Graph-Powered Analytics and Machine Learning with TigerGraph

Chapter 9. Analyzing Airline Flight Routes

Graph algorithms are an essential tool for performing graph analytics. While one can study the algorithms themselves from a textbook, a practitioner needs to gain hands-on experience using a graph algorithm library and applying algorithms to real-world use cases. This chapter will use graph algorithms to analyze a global airline flight route network. We will apply three categories of algorithms: shortest path, centrality, and community detection.

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

• Install and run TigerGraph GDS algorithms

• Set required and optional parameters for algorithms

• Modify a GSQL algorithm or other query to make a customized version

• Use the Explore Graph feature to display selected vertices and edges, including creating an attribute filter

• Understand the application of shortest path, centrality, and community algorithms to a routing network

Goal: Analyzing Airline Flight Routes

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is located in the relatively small country of the Netherlands. Despite the Netherlands having only 17 million residents, its biggest airport is a top-tier hub for transferring over 25 million passengers and 1.6 million tonnes of cargo in 2021.¹ To achieve such a feat, airports like Schiphol face the challenge of scheduling hundreds of aircraft for thousands of flights. Schiphol Airport had almost 500 million air transport movements in 2019, just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. An airport is a ...