As you explore entities and relationships in a link chart associated with a knowledge graph, connections that exist between entities of interest may not be apparent because entities and relationship between the entities of interest are not present on the link chart. Operations allow you to add the missing graph items and reveal how entities are connected to each other.
You can use one of the following options to add graph items to a link chart to show how entities are associated:
- The Connect tools allow you to add relationships that directly connect two entities present in the link chart. Whichever option you choose, the analysis is performed and the appropriate records are added to the link chart.
- The Find Paths button allows you to add both entities and relationships that exist along the shortest paths that connect two entities present in the link chart. Entities and relationships along the shortest paths are selected.
These operations are detailed in the sections below.
Whichever option you choose, the analysis is performed and the appropriate graph items are added to the link chart.
Connect
When you add a relationship to a link chart, the relationship is added along with its origin entity and its destination entity. However, when you add entities to a link chart, their relationships and related entities are not added automatically. Two entities may participate in a relationship that exists in the knowledge graph but where the relationship is missing in the link chart. The Connect operations adds these missing relationships. Only single relationships that exist between two entities on the link chart are added.
There are two Connect operations:
- Connect From adds all relationships from the selected entities to any other entity on the link chart, regardless if it is selected or not.
- Connect Between adds all relationships between the selected entities.
The Connect From operation evaluates all relationships of all types in which the selected entities participate. Each relationship is then evaluated against the link chart to determine whether the entity at the other end of the relationship, either the origin or the destination, is also present in the link chart (including unselected entities). If both entities are present in the link chart and the relationship isn't present, the missing relationship is added to the link chart.
The Connect Between operation also evaluates all relationships of all types in which the selected entities participate. Each relationship is then evaluated against the selected entities in the link chart to determine whether the entity at the other end of the relationship is present and selected in the link chart.
- In a link chart, select the entities you want to evaluate to determine whether any relationships are missing.
- Use the interactive selection tools in the canvas toolbar to select entities and relationships on the link chart.
- Press the Ctrl key while clicking the entities and relationships to add.
- Click Select All
on the canvas toolbar. - Select records in the link chart sublayer record table.
- Press the Ctrl key while clicking the entities and relationships to deselect them.
- Use the Selection Manager to deselect records.
- Click anywhere on the link chart to deselect all entities and relationships.
- On the context toolbar, click Analysis Tools.
- Under the Connect section, select one of the following options:
- Click Connect From to add relationships from the selected entity to any other entity in the link chart.
- Click Connect Between to add relationships between the selected entities.
Missing relationships are retrieved from the knowledge graph and added to the link chart. The originally selected graph items are deselected. The added relationships are selected.
Because the added relationships are selected, it can be difficult to see the relationship types.
- Optionally, clear the selection and zoom in to explore the added relationships.
Find paths between entities
The Find Paths operation examines selected entities to determine whether they are connected by a series of relationships through other entities that may not be present in the link chart. All entities and relationships necessary to describe all shortest paths are added to the link chart.
This algorithm only processes selected entities. A minimum of 2 entities and a maximum of 10 entities can be selected in the link chart.
The algorithm searches for the shortest paths between each pair of selected entities, where a shortest path is the shortest sequence of relationships through which two entities are connected. There can be many shortest paths between two entities. Consider the following scenario:
- Jane is connected to Sara because Jane sold her house, Sara bought the house, and they used the same real estate agent.
- Jane is connected to Sara because they both have friends who own old cars and entered those cars in the same car show.
- Jane and Sara are connected because they went to the same school at different times.
In this scenario, the path through the real estate agent and the path through the school are both shortest paths and are added to the link chart. The Find Paths operation determines the length of a shortest path and retrieves all solutions for all shortest paths from the knowledge graph. All entities and relationships that occur along all shortest paths are added to the link chart and selected.
Note:
To determine the shortest paths between entities in the link chart, complete the following steps:
- In a link chart, select the entities you want to evaluate to determine whether any relationships are missing.
- Use the interactive selection tools in the canvas toolbar to select entities and relationships on the link chart.
- Press the Ctrl key while clicking the entities and relationships to add.
- Click Select All on the canvas toolbar.
- Select records in the link chart sublayer record table.
- Press the Ctrl key while clicking the entities and relationships to deselect them.
- Use the Selection Manager to deselect records.
- Click anywhere on the link chart to deselect all entities and relationships.
- Click Visualization in the context toolbar.
- Click Find Paths from the drop down menu.
Entities and relationships representing the shortest paths between all selected entities are retrieved from the knowledge graph and added to the link chart. The originally selected graph items are deselected and the added entities and relationships are selected. When the shortest path includes entities and relationships that were already present in the link chart, these graph items are also selected.
Because the added entities and relationships are selected, it can be difficult to see the entity and relationship types.
- Optionally, clear the selection and zoom in to explore the added relationships.