DB 4 node map first test

so I just finished my first really really simple crude test of how a map of interconnected tagged data might look as a web of interconnected nodes.

the data it's using is just a bunch of words, and it treats each letter of each word as a tag.

then for each word it creates a list of other words that share at least 1 'tag' (letter) with that word.

then it chooses a location for each word's node, places the nodes and draws a line between every pair of nodes that share tags. the lines are stronger if the nodes share more tags.


the first, very obvious problem is that, because the node placement is random, there are a lot of crossed connections which make it messy and confusing, also the nodes don't tell you anything without mousing over them, which is annoying.

anyways, it needs a whole lot of work still, and maybe it won't end up being the final direction of the DB, more of a proof-of-concept I guess (not that it is a completely original concept).

to do:
-place nodes strategically. strong connections closer to each other, nodes with lots of connections more central, etc.
-have nodes display their most important tags all the time, and all their tags when moused over
-get more real test data. words with letters as tags I don't think is an accurate simulation of real tagged data