DBNetVizor: Visual Analysis of Dynamic Basketball Player Networks

Visual analysis has been increasingly integrated into the exploration of temporal networks, as visualization methods have the capability to present time-varying attributes and relationships of entities in an easy-to-read manner. Visualization techniques have been employed in a variety of dynamic network datasets, including social media networks, academic citation networks, and financial transaction networks. However, effectively visualizing dynamic basketball player network data, which consists of numerical networks, intensive timestamps, and subtle changes, remains a challenge for analysts. To address this issue, we propose a snapshot extraction algorithm that involves human-in-the-loop methodology to help users divide a series of networks into hierarchical snapshots for subsequent network analysis tasks, such as node exploration and network pattern analysis. Furthermore, we design and implement a prototype system, called DBNetVizor, for dynamic basketball player network data visualization. DBNetVizor integrates a graphical user interface to help users extract snapshots visually and interactively, as well as multiple linked visualization charts to display macro- and micro-level information of dynamic basketball player network data. To demonstrate the usability and efficiency of our proposed methods, we present two case studies based on dynamic basketball player network data in a competition. Additionally, we conduct an evaluation and receive positive feedback.