Use Cases
Use Cases
Semantic substrates are particularly powerful when node attributes are central to your analysis and you want positions to convey meaning. Here are key application areas:
Organizational Network Analysis
Scenario: Understanding communication or collaboration patterns across departments, roles, and locations.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- How departments interact with each other
- Whether silos exist between organizational units
- Key connectors bridging different groups
- Differences in connectivity patterns by role level
Example: Placing employees in regions by department, showing collaboration edges to reveal cross-functional relationships and isolated teams.
Citation & Knowledge Networks
Scenario: Analyzing academic citation patterns across disciplines, time periods, or institutions.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Cross-disciplinary knowledge flows
- Which fields cite each other heavily
- Temporal evolution of research connections
- Institutional collaboration patterns
Example: Arranging papers by research field, with citation edges showing how knowledge transfers between disciplines.
Social Network Analysis by Demographics
Scenario: Understanding social connections across demographic groups (age, location, interests).
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Homophily patterns (connections within groups)
- Bridge individuals connecting different communities
- Isolated demographic segments
- Strength of inter-group connections
Example: Positioning users by age group and geographic region, showing friendship edges to reveal generational and regional connection patterns.
Supply Chain by Geography & Type
Scenario: Mapping supplier-manufacturer-customer relationships across regions and product categories.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Geographic concentration of supply chain stages
- Cross-regional dependencies
- Category-specific supply chain structures
- Vulnerability points in the network
Example: Arranging companies by region (columns) and supply chain role (rows), showing transaction edges to reveal geographic flow patterns.
Security & Intelligence Analysis
Scenario: Analyzing communication or association networks across entity types and time periods.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Relationships between different entity types (people, organizations, locations)
- Temporal patterns in network activity
- Entities bridging otherwise separate groups
- Changes in network structure over time
Example: Placing entities in regions by type and time period, showing connections to understand how networks evolve.
Healthcare Provider Networks
Scenario: Understanding referral patterns across specialties and healthcare facilities.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Referral flows between specialties
- Which facilities are well-connected vs isolated
- Specialty-specific referral patterns
- Geographic referral preferences
Example: Arranging providers by specialty (rows) and facility (columns), showing referral edges to understand care coordination patterns.
Software Architecture Analysis
Scenario: Visualizing dependencies between code modules by layer, package, or component type.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Layer violations (unexpected cross-layer dependencies)
- Tightly coupled module groups
- Interface modules connecting different layers
- Dependency patterns by component type
Example: Placing modules in regions by architectural layer, showing import dependencies to reveal architecture compliance and coupling.
Financial Transaction Networks
Scenario: Analyzing payment or transaction flows across account types, risk categories, or time periods.
Semantic substrates reveal:
- Transaction patterns between account types
- High-risk connection patterns
- Temporal transaction flow changes
- Accounts bridging different network segments
Example: Arranging accounts by type and risk score, showing transaction edges to identify unusual cross-category patterns.