Call for papers

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Graph Drawing is concerned with the visualization of graphs and networks. It is motivated by those application domains where it is crucial to visually analyze and interact with relational datasets. Examples of such application domains include social sciences, Internet and Web computing, information systems, computational biology, networking, VLSI circuit design, and software engineering. Bridging the gap between theoretical advances and system implementations is therefore a key factor of Graph Drawing.

The International Symposium on Graph Drawing is the main annual event in this area. This year the conference celebrates its 20th anniversary. It will take place on September 19-21, 2012, and will be hosted by Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, USA. Researchers and practitioners working on any aspect of graph drawing are invited to contribute papers and posters, and participate in the graph drawing contest.

Papers. Submitted papers must describe original research of theoretical or practical significance to graph drawing. This year, for the first time, the call for papers is split into two distinct tracks. Each paper must be submitted in one of the two tracks. Papers submitted to one track will not compete with papers submitted to the other track.

Track 1: Combinatorial and algorithmic aspects

This track is mainly devoted to fundamental graph drawing advances, such as combinatorial aspects and algorithm design. The range of topics for this track includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Design and experimentation of graph drawing algorithms
• Geometric graph theory
• Geometric computing
• Planarity and topological graph theory
• Optimization on graphs

Track 2: Visualization systems and interfaces

This track is mainly devoted to practical aspects of graph drawing, such as the development of graph visualization systems and interfaces in different application areas. The range of topics for this track includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Visualization of graphs and networks in application areas (e.g., social sciences, biology, geography, software engineering, circuit design, business intelligence)
• Software systems for graph visualization
• Interfaces for interacting with graphs
• Benchmarks and experimental analysis for graph visualization systems and user interfaces
• Cognitive studies on graph drawing readability and user interaction

All papers must be submitted in the single-spaced LNCS style. Each submission may be either long (up to 12 pages) or short (up to 6 pages). The claims of the paper should be fully substantiated, including full proofs or appropriate experimental data. If this information does not fit within the page limits, the authors should include it in a clearly marked appendix, whose length is not constrained.

Posters. Submissions of posters on graph drawing and related areas are also solicited. The poster session will provide a forum for the communication of late-breaking research results (which may also appear elsewhere) to the graph drawing community. Posters should be accompanied by an abstract (up to 2 pages in the single-spaced LNCS style).

Contest. Entertainment during the conference will be provided by the graph drawing game contest. We call for submissions in this contest: Develop a game that is playable, relevant to graph drawing, and fun. A team of experts will judge the relevance of the game to graph drawing, while conference attendees, whom we invite to test and play all games, will judge the fun factor. We will provide further details on the conference Web site.

Publication and Awards. Accepted papers and abstract of accepted posters will appear in the conference proceedings, published by Springer in the series Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Selected papers will be invited for submission to a special issue of the Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications. Best paper awards for each of the two tracks will be given. Details will be provided on the conference Web site.

Important Dates

All deadlines are 23:59 PDT and fixed. There will be no extensions.

Invited Speakers

Prosenjit K. Bose, Carleton University
Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland

Program Committee

Daniel Archambault, UCD, Dublin
Markus Chimani, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena
Sabine Cornelsen, University of Konstanz
Walter Didimo (co-chair), University of Perugia
David Eppstein, University of California, Irvine
Jean-Daniel Fekete, INRIA
Emden Gansner, AT&T
Seok-hee Hong, University of Syndey
Michael Kaufmann, University of Tübingen
Stephen Kobourov, University of Arizona
Jan Kratochvil, Charles University of Prague
Marc van Kreveld, Utrecht University
Anna Lubiw, University of Waterloo
Guy Melançon, Université Bordeaux I
Yoshio Okamoto, JAIST
Maurizio Patrignani (co-chair), Roma Tre University
Nathalie Henry Riche, Microsoft Research
Ioannis G. Tollis, FORTH-ICS and Univ. of Crete
Christian Tominski, University of Rostock
Geza Toth, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Jarke J. van Wijk, Eindhoven University of Technology
Alexander Wolff, University of Würzburg
Xiaoru Yuan, Peking University

Organizing Committee

Tim Dwyer, Microsoft Corp
Bongshin Lee, Microsoft Research
Lev Nachmanson (chair), Microsoft Research
Nathalie Henry Riche, Microsoft Research

Contest Committee

Christian Duncan, Louisiana Tech University
Carsten Gutwenger (chair), TU Dortmund
Lev Nachmanson, Microsoft Research
Georg Sander, IBM, Frankfurt

Publicity Chair

Emilio Di Giacomo, University of Perugia