http://wpf.netfx3.com/direct/zurich/zeuswpf.xbap

They use this visualization to answer the following kids of questions...

• Did the Plane Touch Down
• Is it taxing
• Is it in a line to take off
• Is it docked at a gate
• Is it unloading
• How unloaded or loaded is it
• How many gates are open
• How full is the plane (the red/green gradient)

http://www.win.tue.nl/~dholten/papers/bundles_infovis.pdf

Here's an interesting whitepaper that uses a Bundle function to remove noise of multiple connections in a graph.  Because of the graphs I've been working on recently this was a perfect time to stumble upon this approach.

Here are some connections in various visualization mechanisms.  You'll notice the use of color as a way of showing strength in this approach - not so much for relationship type.

A real novel approach of this technique is the use of Alpha Blending the curved connections.  Alpha Blending introduces another channel of information to the typical RGB (Red/Green/Blue) information tuple in the form of transparency - 0 is completely invisible and 255 is opaque.

Here are some example images of the bundle function

Finally, here's an example of the strength of Bundle being modified on a Circular graph...

http://www.dundas.com/Products/Gauge/NET/Features/newfeatures.aspx?Campaign=Gauge20Beta

Here are some great dashboard web parts you should check out.

• Build on the familiar
• Emphasize simplicity
• Hide complexity
• Let people do something new they wished they could do
• Do what it's supposed to do really well
• When displacing something else, offer a significantly better experience

http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/HomeServlet?ee_website_action_key=action.display.context&language_id=1

Here's an interesting site that uses networks and graphs to great advantage.  It let's you look at the connections of ancient Egypt in a modern, high-tech way.

I like a number of things about this layout - I like the thumbs, located on the centerline of the edge of the network for panning - no modality (Apple Hand).  The Overview is nice and the Legend is similar to where I went for my Network Explorer Project.  I also like the idea of a guided tour, aluded to by the Next Previous Buttons on the Right Margin below the detailed photo of the selected node.

www.olapreport.com

Always interesting to see the impact of Microsoft in the BI market.

Everyone was talking about Oracle buying Hyperion a few weeks ago...

here's my take...

• XML/A (MDX) is now the "SQL" of OLAP - Microsoft, Cognos, and Hyperion all support it - for MSFT and Hyperion it is native.
• What will Oracle do with Oracle Financials and the Hyperion Financial apps - what does this mean to the newly re-engineered Essbase (XML/A Native, By the Way)

In working with the huge network I've been showing here for the last few weeks I thought I'd see what this thing looked like in the 3rd dimension. 

One thing is for sure, you can zoom and pan better in this format and it feels like I see more at any given perspective than I do in the 2D equivalent. 

I can also use height and color better to show importance of the various components - in this case, I render the hubs relative to how they contribute to the whole - you can clearly see who's important and not from that perspective. 

Taking that idea to the next stage and scaling other items gives me an idea of general importance in the network, beyond just the link structure.

Finally, I thought I'd look at the links as Cylinders instead of just lines (I used the algorithm we talked about on here a few months ago from Michael Peters of Oculus).

Hovering over a node lets me do the "ToolTip" thing - critical in this type of application.

http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/techfest/videos/video_1.aspx

BTW, George Robertson is one of the guys who came to Microsoft Research from Xerox Parc.

OK, so it's been a little while.  I've added color to the types of relationships, so that you can see types of structures much more clearly.  If you are not color blind this is an effective way to depict relationship type. 

Here is a zoom into a smaller structure...

The blue line represents a very unique connection in this network...