Humans are wired to make connections. This is evident in something as simple as connecting the dots to unravel the plot of a movie or in something more complicated as figuring out how ideas in a report are interrelated. It is just how humans make sense of pretty much everything.

For the most part, humans can connect the dots in their minds; however, visual cues are always welcome because humans are highly visual creatures—meaning, they are able to retain and understand information better if there is an accompanying visual element. These cues are especially useful when it comes to finding connections between and among complex concepts.

This is why humans use concepts maps, fishbone diagrams, charts, matrices, graphs and all sorts of graphic organisers, as they represent important information in a visual way. In this way, information is made easier to digest, connections become easier to spot, and relationships become easily identifiable.

When it comes to information (or data), the more of it you have, the deeper and better insights you can derive. The only problem is that as the amount and variety of data grows, discovering connections will prove to be an even greater challenge. 

Graphing and Making Sense of Data With Neoj4 Bloom

Now, imagine if you and your team are able to make sense of the voluminous data you have right now and will be getting more of in the future, in a simple, easy to understand way. In fulfilling its vision to help the world make sense of data, Neo4j has been providing organisations with new applications that will help them find connections, influences and relationships in their data.

Among these applications are graphs, which store your existing data in a visual form that you and your team are sure to better understand as human beings. Neo4j also offers a way for end-users like you to further explore your already graphed data with Neo4j Bloom, a data visualisation tool that lets you explore Neo4j’s graph data platform and freely interact with it. This will enable you to truly capture the rich, real-world context behind the data you have and then use the insights you will get for informed decision making and to solve business problems.

Put simply, Neo4j Bloom “illuminates” your data and its connections, thus providing an insightful and satisfying way for you to view, analyse and share this data. In particular, this data visualisation tool enables you to see patterns, which are critical in making sense of data because they prompt you to ask questions, to probe deeper, to find more connections. Seeing patterns gives you an idea as to what is actually happening, and why the graph is looking the way it is.

Crucially, Neo4j Bloom knows everything about your graph database and it can help you zone in exactly on what you want to visualise through its intuitive search feature. All you have to do is conduct a simple search—type in what you want to find out, for example—and Neo4j Bloom will automatically show you and highlight only the nodes, relationships, patterns and elements that match your search. This saves you and your team time and effort and allows you to focus on the more critical task: Analysing the data.

Exploring data in your graph is just as intuitive with Neo4j Bloom.  In fact, all you have to do is hover on a node and more information will be shown. Right-clicking it, on the other hand, will show the context menu, while a card list displays the details of all nodes in view. You can even stylise your graph—change the colours and sizes, or add icons, for instance—in ways which you think will make it even easier for you and all other end-users to understand and analyse.

Just Like a Human Would Do

In case you have not noticed just yet, the process outlined is something you might have done or are still doing: Get data, visualise it through a graphic organiser, make necessary changes where needed, make sense of the data and then glean insights from it. This is the reason graphs are the more human way to visualise data, and why your organisation needs Neo4j in this data-driven world.

To learn more about Neo4j Bloom, click here to download a visual guide on what it can do for your organisation. You can also get started with it by clicking here. For more about Neo4j’s products, go to its official website on https://neo4j.com/.