Abstract:

Automatically arranging the nodes and edges of a graph to make a pleasing picture is an important research area in visualization.The layout algorithm based on force-directed model,also known as spring embedders,have attracted many attentions and have become very popular in drawing undirected graphs.We divide the related work about the layout algorithm based on forcedirected model into five categories:basic model,multidimensional scaling layout,multi-level layout,non-Euclidean layout,and constrained graph layout.We introduce the classical method,the research progress and the branch area of each category,and discuss the future work and challenges.

Key words: force-directed model;automatic layout algorithm;network visualization