Sankey Arcs - Visualizing edge weights in path graphs

Abstract

Arc diagrams allow exploring relations and their strength between sequential nodes. Previous solutions suffer from displaying all arcs at the center of a node, which can lead to visual obstruction. We present a new technique, which extends the arc diagram technique by laying out the weighted edges of a node adjacent to each other. The aim of our Sankey Arc technique is to improve clarity, to enable users perceiving and comparing weighted edges in path graphs. The technique is illustrated using a dataset on travel paths in a public transit network.