Layout Methods For Graph Drawing

Graph Layout Algorithm List

The purpose of these  methods is placing nodes in two or three dimensional space to have crossing-free and aesthetically pleasing diagrams as much as possible. 

1. Force-directed Layout Methods: 

   These algorithms assign forces to all nodes and edges of the graph. For example in equilibrium state, the edges tend to have almost same length and the nodes that are not connected tend to be placed far apart from each other.
   
   
   
    Figure-1 Force-directed layout(1)
   
   
   Graph drawing software like Gephi, Grapviz and Tulip give opportunity to their users to apply force-directed layout methods to the graphs.
   

2. Layered Graph Drawing:

   This method is also known as Sugiyama-style graph drawing after Kozo Sugiyama who introduced this algorithm for the first time. It follows hierarchical way to draw directed graphs where nodes of the graph are placed in horizontal layers and edges tend to be straight and directed downwards.
   
   
   
   Figure-2 Layered drawing of a directed acyclic graph(2)
   
   

3. Orthogonal Layout Methods:

   The graphs drawn by this method, have horizontal or vertical edges which are parallel to the the axes of the layout.
   
   
   
   Figure-3 Orthogonal layout (3)
   
   

4. Arc Diagrams:

   Arc diagrams' nodes are placed on a line and edges are drawn in a semi-circular form.
   
   
   
   Figure-4 An arc diagram (4)
   
   

5. Dominance Drawing: 

   It is a drawing style for directed acyclic graphs that provides reachability relations between nodes.
   
   
    Figure-5 Dominance Drawing (5)
   
   

6. Tree Layout Algorithms:  

   The algorithms draw graphs in a rooted tree-like format. "Balloon layout" is one of the tree layout algorithms, where children of each node form a circle around the node.
   
   
   
   Figure-6 Tree layout (6)
   
   
   
   
   Figure-7 Balloon layout (6)
   
   

   References:

   1. http://www.eulerdiagrams.com/tutorial/AutomatedDiagramDrawing.html  
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layered_graph_drawing 
   3. http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/19163/are-network-components-good-ux
   4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_diagram 
   5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominance_drawing
   6. http://www.infiview.com/dev/kb/layouts.html    
             All accessed: 2015/05/07