Multi-dimensional orthogonal graph drawing with small boxes

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the general position model for the drawing of arbitrary degree graphs in the D-dimensional (D ≥ 2) orthogonal grid. In this model no two vertices lie in the same grid hyperplane. We show that for D ≥ 3, given an arbitrary layout and initial edge routing a crossing-free orthogonal drawing can be determined. We distinguish two types of algorithms. Our layout-based algorithm, given an arbitrary fixed layout, determines a degree-restricted orthogonal drawing with each vertex having aspect ratio two. Using a balanced lay-out this algorithm establishes improved bounds on the size of vertices for 2-D and 3-D drawings. Our routing-based algorithm produces 2-degree-restricted 3-D orthogonal drawings. One advantage of our approach in 3-D is that edges are typically routed on each face of a vertex; hence the produced drawings are more truly three-dimensional than those produced by some existing algorithms.