Visualizing NoSQL Databases

Corey Lanum
Cambridge Intelligence

Founded in May 2011
We build toolkits for network visualization
Corey Lanum

General Manager –
Americas

Former Sales
Engineering Lead for i2
Outline

•  What are networks?

•  Why visualize networks?
•  Visualization techniques
–  Animation
–  Color
–  Interactivity
•  What about dynamic networks?
What are networks?
•  A network is a model of interconnected data where
the connections are just as important as the data
elements
•  Networks are typically modeled as nodes, edges, and
properties – when done this way, can be called a
“graph”
•  Many technologies exist to work with graphs
•  Graph databases are useful for working with networks
but not required. Even key-value pairs can be modeled
as networks!
Botnet Tra"c
Twitter Connections
Email Communications
Healthcare Claims
Purpose of visualization

•  To better understand the structure of

the data that you are collecting
•  To better understand the relationships
contained in the data that you are
collecting
Why Visualize Networks?

•  Graph data is inherently visual

•  Accessible by non-scientists
•  Convey a deeper understanding of data
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<graphml xmlns="http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns
http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns/1.0/graphml.xsd">
<graph id="G" edgedefault="undirected">
<node id="n0"/>
<node id="n1"/>
<edge id="e1" source="n0" target="n1"/>
</graph>
</graphml>
Why uses graph visualization?
•  Finance and Insurance
–  Fraud discovery and investigation
–  Regulatory compliance
•  Information Technology
–  Network Topology
–  Risk Assessment
•  Government
–  Defense and Intelligence
–  Law Enforcement
•  Oil and Gas
–  Physical Infrastructure
Creating visualizations

•  Convey Information Through Visual

Properties
–  Nodes
•  Images or Icons
•  Colors
•  Sizes
•  Glyphs
–  Edges
•  Colors
•  Width
Add interactivity
•  Query
•  Animate - Changes to the chart should be animated so
that the user doesn’t lose track of nodes
•  Layout - The user should be provided with multiple
layout options to see what best organizes the data
•  Explore - The user needs to be able to inspect non-visual
properties of the nodes and edges
•  Expand - The user needs to be able to add additional
data to the visualization
•  Combine and Filter - Not every data element needs to be
drawn on the chart at once
Dynamic Networks demo
Thanks! Any questions?
info@cambridge-intelligence.com