Improved Force-Directed Method of Graph Layout Generation with Adaptive Step Length☆

Abstract We present an improvement of the force-directed method of undirected graph layout generation by maximizing the step length of the iterative optimization process. We show that the upper bound on the step length value depends only on graph characteristics and remains constant throughout the optimization process. Our algorithm finds the largest possible step length that does not result in divergence of the process, therefore it reduces the number of iterations needed to achieve the optimal graph layout.