Creating a Visualization in a Network Navigator Dashboard

This topic discusses how to create a visualization in your Network Navigator dashboard.

Step 1: Add a Node to the Network

1. The first step in rendering the Network View is to choose a node (or group of nodes) as the starting point. A node is an object in the data. In order to be able to traverse the network, start with an object for a property that has one or more relationships with other properties. To select a value, click the Search bar at the top of the dashboard. The Search box displays all of the values for each of the properties in the data model. Select one or more objects from the list. If you wish to narrow down the values quickly, simply type in a value in the Search bar and select it when it displays.

   

   For example, in the image below the value 2001: A Space Odyssey was selected as the starting point, and the 2001: A Space Odyssey node is added to the View:

   

   You can configure the dashboard to Auto-Expand by a certain number of degrees or hops so that adding a node to a View automatically adds the specified number of related nodes and paths. For information, see Auto-Expanding a Network View.

2. To view this node's neighbors, click on the node and select Expand. Two options display: All neighbors, which automatically adds all the node's neighbors to your view, and a breakdown (i.e., sub-classes) of these neighbors. For example, as indicated in the image below, 2001: A Space Odyssey includes 13 movie persons as neighbors, including 12 actors and 1 director.

   

3. Selecting one neighbor adds this item to the view. Arrows (i.e., edges) highlight the relationships between the two nodes now present in the view.

   

   Repeat this step to continue building your network.

   

Step 2: Expand the Network

After creating your initial network, you can continue expanding it to see other relations.

1. Double-click on a node to launch the Select Neighbors dialog.

   

   An element may potentially include hundreds of neighbors and not all of them may be of value to you. Thus, the Select Neighbors dialog aims to help you control which neighbors to add to your network.

2. Select the neighbors to add to your network. You will notice that these neighbors are immediately added to your network, even without closing the dialog. This functionality will help you visualize and refine your network, ensuring that only those elements you are interested in are incorporated into your view.

   

3. Selecting the box to the left of the Title column adds all of the neighbors of the selected element to the network.