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The use of graph visualization approaches to present and analyze complex data is taking a leading role in conveying information and knowledge to users in many application domains. This creates the need of developing efficient and effective algorithms that automatically compute graph layouts. In this respect, force-directed algorithms are arguably among the most popular graph layout techniques. Aimed at leveraging the potential of modern distributed graph algorithms platforms, we present Multi-GiLA, the first multilevel force-directed graph visualization algorithm based on a vertex-centric computation paradigm. We implemented Multi-GiLA using the Apache Giraph platform. Experiments show that it can be successfully applied to compute high quality layouts of very large graphs on inexpensive cloud computing platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diagram is a drawing on the plane that represents a graph-like structure, where nodes are represented by symbols and edges are represented by curves connecting pairs of symbols. An automatic layout facility is a tool that receives as input a graph-like structure and is able to produce a diagram that nicely represents such a structure. Many systems use diagrams in the interaction with the users; thus, automatic layout facilities and algorithms for graphs layout have been extensively studied in the last years. We present a new approach in designing an automatic layout facility. Our approach is based on a modular management of a large collection of algorithms and on a strategy that, given the requirements of an application, selects a suitable algorithm for such requirements. The proposed approach has been used for designing the automatic layout facility of Diagram Server, a network server that offers to its clients several facilities for managing diagrams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]