Arc diagrams
Heike E. Assmus
Tuesday, 04 November 2008 11:02 UTC
Hi there,
my question certainly belongs here in the visualization&science group/forum:
Recently, I have come across arc diagrams for visualizing structure in strings (see the post on the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge Winners from some weeks ago).
Now, I’d like to draw one myself.
Does anyone know of a (free) software tool for drawing arc diagrams? Or can you even recommend one? (Linux/Windows)
Thanks a lot,
Heike.
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Replies
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Hi Heinke – I’m not sure what type of arc diagram you have in mind and what data you are trying to visualize. Are you thinking of a diagram like the ones created by Martin Wattenberg:
Jeff Clark has released some code in Processing for diagramming documents (second link):

Alternately, Circos uses a similar algorithm, however, the links are shown within a circle rather than on a straight line:

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Yes, the Wattenberg ones I had in mind.
My data is value pairs (tuples) and the document processing tool doesn’t seem to do it. But Circos looks interesting, I’ll have a look. (Seeing the figures, it reminded me of the 90’s, when I had a hard time to find an easy way to depict GC content of a circular bacterial genome:) Thanks for the tips.
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