What is Gephi Software?

Gephi is a visualization application developed in the Java language. It is mainly used for visualizing, manipulating, and exploring networks and graphs from raw edge and node graph data. It is a free and open-source application. It is built on the top of the Netbeans Platform and uses OpenGL for its visualization engine. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It is an excellent tool for data analysts and data science enthusiasts to explore and understand graphs. It is similar to Photoshop but deals with graph data. The user interacts with the representation, manipulates the structures, shapes, and colors to reveal hidden patterns. The primary goal is to enable the user to make a hypothesis, discover hidden patterns, isolate structure singularities and defects during data sourcing. 

History

Gephi application project was born in 2006 with a prototype called Graphiltre, at a sociology research program. It was later developed by students of the University of Technology of Compiegne (UTC) in France. It was initially released on 31 July 2008. However, its first stable release was on 26 September 2017. It had been selected for the Google Summer of Code in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. One of the application’s founders was hired by LinkedIn, and Gephi is now used for LinkedIn visualizations. Its official website says Gephi- The Open Graph Viz Platform. It makes graphs handy.

Installing Gephi

Step 1: Before downloading Gephi, ensure that the latest version of Java JRE is installed on your system. If not, first download it from here.
Step 2: Go to the official website of Gephi, and click on Download Now.
Step 3: Click on the appropriate option accordingly for downloading Gephi either on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Step 4: Let the download complete, then run the installer.

Start Installation

Step 5: Keep Clicking Next and follow the steps.
Step 6: After the installation is complete, click on Finish.

Installation is complete

Advantages of Gephi:

1. Extremely Fast: It is built using the OpenGL engine. So Gephi allows us to with very large networks with very high speed. It can visualize networks up to a million elements. All the actions such as layout, filter, and drag run in real-time.
2. Simple: It is very easy to install and get started with. It is best known for its window interface. It has a very easy interface to use and is filled with handy tools
3. Modular: The Gephi software is split up into different modules. All its features are wrapped into separated modules. Each module provides a specific function, which makes the maintenance of the software a lot easier.
4. Easy Data Import: The data import process is very easy in CSV format.

Disadvantages of Gephi:

1. There is absolutely no linking between views.
2. There are a few visual glitches
3. The navigation of the Graph can be improved.

Applications of Gephi:

1. It is used in exploratory data analysis and makes analysis by manipulating the networks in real-time.
2. It is used to represent patterns of biological data.
3. It is used to create posters and promote scientific work using high-quality maps that are printable too.