On the integration of graph exploration and data analysis: the creative exploration toolkit

To enable discovery in large, heterogenious information networks a tool is needed that allows exploration in changing graph structures and integrates advanced graph mining methods in an interactive visualization framework. We present the Creative Exploration Toolkit (CET), which consists of a state-of-the-art user interface for graph visualization designed towards explorative tasks and support tools for integration and communication with external data sources and mining tools, especially the data-mining platform KNIME. All parts of the interface can be customized to fit the requirements of special tasks, including the use of node type dependent icons, highlighting of nodes and clusters. Through an evaluation we have shown the applicability of CET for structure-based analysis tasks.