(geo)graphs - Complex Networks as a shapefile of nodes and a shapefile of edges for different applications

Abstract: Spatial dependency and spatial embedding are basic physical properties of many phenomena modeled by networks. The most indicated computational environment to deal with spatial information is to use Georeferenced Information System (GIS) and Geographical Database Management Systems (GDBMS). Several models have been proposed in this direction, however there is a gap in the literature in generic frameworks for working with Complex Networks in GIS/GDBMS environments. Here we introduce the concept of (geo)graphs: graphs in which the nodes have a known geographical location and the edges have spatial dependence. We present case studies and two open source softwares (GIS4GRAPH and GeoCNet) that indicate how to retrieve networks from GIS data and how to represent networks over GIS data by using (geo)graphs.