Animated Exploration of Dynamic Graphs with Radial Layout

We describe a new animation technique for supporting interactive exploration of a graph, building on the wellknown radial tree layout method. When a node is selected to become the center of interest, the visualization performs an animated transition to a new layout. Our approach makes the transition easy to follow by linearly interpolating the polar coordinates of the nodes and enforcing constraints on the layout. We apply this technique to visualizations of social networks and the dynamic Gnutella file-sharing network, and discuss informal usability results.