Search process

To find a connecting network, Analyst's Notebook combines the shortest paths between pairs of required entities until a connecting network is produced.

Process

When you search for a connecting network, Analyst's Notebook finds the shortest paths between pairs of required entities. Then, Analyst's Notebook gives each path a value. Direct links between required entities have maximum value. The value of an indirect path is determined by the following characteristics:

The number of its intermediate entities that are shared with other shortest paths.
The number of other shortest paths that pass through those shared intermediate entities.

To construct the connecting network, the highest value paths are added to the result. If the result contains all required entities, the process ends. Otherwise, the next highest value paths are added until a network that joins all the required entities is produced.

This process ensures that the resulting network contains intermediate entities that are on the greatest number of shortest paths between required entities, which helps you to identify important intermediaries in the network. Where several shortest paths exist between a pair of required entities, this process also ensures that the path with the most highly connected intermediate entities is added to the network.

Example

The following diagram depicts a connecting network on a chart surface. Required entities are colored red. Intermediate entities, and links in the connecting network, are colored blue. All other items are not part of the connecting network.

The chart contains two shortest paths between entity 1 and entity 3. The path in the connecting network contains an intermediate entity that is shared with the path between entity 2 and entity 3.

Entity 3 and entity 4 are joined by their direct link.