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Take for instance the simple graph

Graph[{1, 2, 3}, {1 <-> 3, 2 <-> 3},
VertexCoordinates -> {{0, 0}, {1, 0}, {2, 0}}, 
VertexLabels -> Automatic]

graph1

and note that the edges 1<->3 and 2<->3 overlap visually. Is there a way to keep the manual vertex positioning and have the edges reroute intelligently?

Another, more interesting, example where overlapping edges really start to become a problem:

g = Graph[Range[9], 
EdgeList@AdjacencyGraph[
ConstantArray[1, {9, 9}] - IdentityMatrix[9]], 
VertexCoordinates -> Flatten[Table[{i, j}, {i, 1, 3}, {j, 1, 3}], 1], 
VertexLabels -> Automatic]

graph2

For GraphPlot there is an option MultiedgeStyle that controls spacing between edges.

GraphPlot[g, MultiedgeStyle -> #] & /@ {0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1}

graph3

Especially for stuff like HighlightGraph and EdgeStyle to selectively stylize edges I'd rather keep using Graph instead of GraphPlot and friends. See this Q&A for more details about the differences between the two.

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  • $\begingroup$ So what's your question? $\endgroup$
    – David G. Stork
    Nov 15, 2017 at 17:07
  • $\begingroup$ @DavidG.Stork My question is wether/how one can make a graph's visual representation smarter with regard to overlapping edges. $\endgroup$
    – Sascha
    Nov 16, 2017 at 10:00

1 Answer 1

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You could try "CurvedArc" EdgeShapeFunction:

Graph[{1, 2, 3}, {1 <-> 3, 2 <-> 3}, 
 VertexCoordinates -> {{0, 0}, {1, 0}, {2, 0}}, 
 VertexLabels -> Automatic, EdgeShapeFunction -> "CurvedArc"]

Graph[Range[9], 
 EdgeList@AdjacencyGraph[
   ConstantArray[1, {9, 9}] - IdentityMatrix[9]], 
 VertexCoordinates -> Flatten[Table[{i, j}, {i, 1, 3}, {j, 1, 3}], 1],
  VertexLabels -> Automatic, 
 EdgeShapeFunction -> 
  GraphElementData[{"CurvedArc", "Curvature" -> .3}]]
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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Thank you for your answer! Can you tell me how you found out about "CurvedArc"? The documentation states that GraphElementData["EdgeShapeFunction"] can be used to find all EdgeShapeFunctions but CurvedArc is not listed among them for me. $\endgroup$
    – Sascha
    Nov 15, 2017 at 14:14
  • $\begingroup$ Using "Curvature" :> RandomReal[{-0.5, 0.5}] produces nice results if one does not wish the graph to uniformly "slant" in one specific direction. $\endgroup$
    – Sascha
    Nov 15, 2017 at 14:18

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