Gephi - Great Visualization Tool That Could Use Better Export Features
September 01, 2015
Gephi - Great Visualization Tool That Could Use Better Export Features
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
0.8.2
Modules Used
- Graph
- Data Laboratory
- Preview
Overall Satisfaction with Gephi
At Quaero, we've used Gephi primarily in our Analytics department for visualizations around social networking. We've used it to look at traffic patterns across websites. This helps as we have discussions with our clients to give them insight into site design and where changes in flow may need to be made. We've also used it to map how individuals are connected across the site, more of a classic social network analysis exercise.
- Gephi has a very easy interface to use and get to the tools you need quickly. Without much training or learning, it's pretty simple to figure out.
- The data import process is very easy in CSV format and the software produces a graph automatically once the correct data is loaded and mapped together (edges and nodes).
- The visualization is very easy to edit, drag around, and customize. There is flexibility to change the size and color of nodes and edges to represent various characteristics of the graph.
- In Gephi, there's really not a great export feature for the map you've created. Screenshots can be taken, but you can't currently export to an image or HTML document.
- All the interactivity is lost if not using the Gephi file itself. A screenshot does not have nearly the impact as if you could move the edges and nodes around like you can in the software itself.
- All the text label size is edited by one master control. It would be nice if this would size proportionately with the size of the nodes or if this could be a manual selection at times. With all the edges flowing around, sometimes it's hard to read the text if it's too small or too large.
- vis.js and d3
Compared to vis.js and d3, Gephi has a much better UI and is easier to use for anyone without a strong code background. vis.js and d3 are more flexible in terms of output and are used by Quaero for more of the ongoing reporting where Gephi is used for exploratory analysis and ad hoc requests. We use all three, just for different purposes.