Book Image

Network Graph Analysis and Visualization with Gephi

By : Ken Cherven
Book Image

Network Graph Analysis and Visualization with Gephi

By: Ken Cherven

Overview of this book

<p>Gephi is an interactive visualization and exploration platform for all kinds of networks and complex systems. Social media data has helped to drive network visualization to new levels of relevance and importance. However, there is far more to network visualization than just social media data. For analyzing and visualizing network graphs, you need to have an excellent platform, and you need to know ways to use your data effectively.</p> <p>Network Graph Analysis and Visualization with Gephi is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with all the tools you need to begin creating your own network graphs. You will learn how to import data, test multiple graph layouts, and publish your visualizations to the Web.</p> <p>Network Graph Analysis and Visualization with Gephi will teach you how to create your own network graphs using Gephi. The book begins by taking you through the installation of Gephi and configuring the installation options. You will also get acquainted with the Gephi workspace and the various tools in Gephi. Next, you’ll use these tools to create your own graphs. If you need to add more capability to your personal toolkit, you will be learning to Download and install several of the best Gephi layout plugins. You will then use these layouts simultaneously to produce beautiful graphs. Also, you create and import data in Gephi and add some new plugins that extend Gephi even further. You also gain the skills to prepare and customize your network visualization for export.</p> <p>By the end of this book, you will be able to create your own network graphs using Gephi, customize the look and feel of your graphs, and successfully publish them to the Web.</p>
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Exploring plugin options


To get a feel for the available plugins for Gephi, we'll navigate to the marketplace, currently located at https://marketplace.gephi.org/plugins/. Here, you will see a variety of plugins organized by category, looking something like this:

You may have noticed that Gephi does not have hundreds of plugins available through the marketplace, at least at this stage of its development, yet there are a number of options beyond the layout plugins we've already seen. Gephi does in fact have dozens of plugins, but the majority are already available when you perform the base installation.

This would be a good time to click one of the previously mentioned categories to learn more about a few of the plugins. Generally speaking, you will find fairly detailed descriptions for each tool, what it is designed to do, and how to install and configure the plugin. Don't worry too much at this stage about the installation and configuration piece; in my experience, most Gephi plugins have...