Lietišėās Datorsistēmas Definition of General Requirements for Graph Visualization Software Grafu Vizualizācijas Programmatūras Vispārīgo Prasību Noteikšana

Considering that graph visualization tasks can be automated in order to allow effective interactive manipulation with information being processed, it is clearly seen that such automation requires development of complex GVS (Graph Visualization Software). That is why analysis and definition of requirements is of particular importance as a starting point of development cycle. This is not a trivial task, as there are many fields that could benefit from automated visualization of graph structures, each with individual characteristics of processing visual data. Of course it is impossible to build perfect GVS that would be able to satisfy all needs simultaneously. Instead authors propose to derive common characteristics of different kinds of visualization tasks in order to build database that consists of generic GVS components (separate module that provides calculations for force-based layout would be a good example) and their description. Such components could be integrated into functional graph drawing packages on modular basis. Moreover, such organization of development allows defining ready-to-use design templates explicitly tuned for aforementioned types of tasks. These templates would be stored in the same database while holding references to generic GVS components, providing ability to enable compilation of particular GVS “on the fly”. This is a long-term goal that requires preliminary researches. In this paper authors propose summary of first step that involves studying of some existing GVS and additional theoretical sources in order to identify the main characteristics of visualization tasks and find dependencies between them and potential GVS components. Authors also propose demonstration of how such concepts would be able to help in development of GVS in particular field. Taking into consideration the above mentioned, it is possible to identify the following goal: to assist in creation of new GVS by providing mechanism for making design templates for different kinds of tasks. In order to reach this goal, there are being defined four subtasks: 1) to study functionality of some existing graph drawing packages; 2) to derive possible relationships between GVS requirements and generic components; 3) to develop mechanism for managing design templates; 4) to evaluate application of one example template for development of imaginary GVS as a part of generic air traffic control routing system.