ChronoGraph: Enabling Temporal Graph Traversals for Efficient Information Diffusion Analysis over Time

Abstract

ChronoGraph is a novel system enabling temporal graph traversals. Compared to snapshot-oriented systems, this traversal-oriented system is suitable for analyzing information diffusion over time without violating a time constraint on temporal paths. The cornerstone of ChronoGraph aims at bridging the chasm between point-based semantics and period-based semantics and the gap between temporal graph traversals and static graph traversals. Therefore, our graph model and traversal language provide the temporal syntax for both semantics, and we present a method converting point-based semantics to period-based ones. Also, ChronoGraph exploits the temporal support and parallelism to handle the temporal degree, which explosively increases compared to static graphs. We demonstrate how three traversal recipes can be implemented on top of our system: temporal breadth-first search (tBFS), temporal depth-first search (tDFS), and temporal single source shortest path (tSSSP). According to our evaluation, our temporal support and parallelism enhance temporal graph traversals in terms of convenience and efficiency. Also, ChronoGraph outperforms existing property graph databases in terms of temporal graph traversals. We prototype ChronoGraph by extending Tinkerpop, a de facto standard for property graphs. Therefore, we expect that our system would be readily accessible to existing property graph users.