GEXF Format

GEXF file format specifications. Details and examples at gexf.net.

The repository contains both the specifications and the primer sources.

The latest stable version in 1.3.

License

The GEXF format and its related documentation is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Changelog

Note that we used to use "draft" in certain version (e.g "1.2draft") up until 1.3 when we decided to simply use full versions numbers.

1.3

Compatible with Gephi 0.9.3 and above. Note that part of the specifications were already implemented since 0.9 but full support is only guaranteed in 0.9.3.

• Add kind attribute on edge to support multi-graph (i.e. parallel edges)
• The edge weight is now a double instead of a float
• The edge id is now optional
• Add xsd:longas possible idtype on <graph>
• Add new attribute types bigdecimal, biginteger, char, short and byte
• Add new list attributes like listboolean or listinteger for each atomic type

Dynamics

• Add a timezone attribute on <graph> to use as a timezone in case it's omitted in the element timestamps
• Open intervals attributes startopen and endopen are removed. Use regular inclusive start and end instead
• Remove start and end attributes on <attributes> as it was redundant with <graph> attributes

Timestamp support

Add the ability to represent time with single timestamps instead of intervals. We want feature parity between the two time representations but note they can't be mixed.

• Add a timerepresentation enum in <graph> with either interval (default) or timestamp to configure the way the time is represented
• Add timestamp attribute to <node>, <edge>, <spell> and <attvalue> to support this new time representation

Alternative to spell elements

• Add a timestamps attribute to <node> and <edge> to represent a list of timestamps without having to use spells
• Similarly, add a intervals attribute to <node> and <edge>

New slice mode

The optional mode attribute on <graph> now has an additional slice value, in addition of static and dynamic. With slice, the expectation is that the <graph> also has either a timestamp or start / end intervals.

• Add a timestamp attribute on <graph> to characterise the slice this graph represent
• Change the meaning of the start and end attributes on <graph> to either characterise the slice instead of the time bounds, which should rather be inferred

Viz

• Add hex attribute on <color> so it can support values like #FF00FF
• The z position is no longer required
• Dynamic attributes like start, end or child elements <spells> are no longer supported for viz attributes. To represent viz attributes over time, an alternative is to create multiple graphs each representing a slice

1.2

Compatible with Gephi 0.8 and above.

• The node and edge label attribute are now optional
• <meta> should be placed before <graph>

Dynamics

• Rename the timetype attribute to timeformat. This attribute is set on <graph> to specify how time information is encoded, either like a date or like a double.
• The timeformat is currently either float or date and default value is date. The float type is replaced by double, and is now the default value.
• Added timeformat types integer and dateTime. DateTime is equivalent to timestamps.
• Add open intervals (non-inclusive): startopen and endopen attributes.
• <slices> and <slice> are renamed <spells> and <spell> respectively because slices are a different concept as remarked.

Viz

• Add viz attributes support for dynamics.
• Add the alpha channel to RGB. Colors are now encoded in RGBA. It is a float from 0.0 (invisible) to 1.0 (fully visible). If omitted, the default alpha-value is 1.0 (no transparency).

1.1

Compatible with Gephi 0.7 and above.

• Modules are stabilized and new ones appear: hierarchy and phylogeny.

1.0

Compatible with Gephi 0.6 and above.

• First specification. Basic topology, associated data and dynamics attempt constitute the core, plus a visualization extension.