  Force-directed algorithms have been developed over the last 50 years and used
in many application fields, including information visualisation, biological
network visualisation, sensor networks, routing algorithms, scheduling, and
graph drawing. Our survey provides a comprehensive summary of developments and
a full roadmap for state-of-the-art force-directed algorithms in schematic
drawings and placement. We classified the model of force-directed algorithms
into classical and hybrid. The classical force-directed algorithms are further
classified as follows: (a) accumulated force models, (b) energy function
minimisation models and (c) combinatorial optimisation models. The hybrid
force-directed algorithms are classified as follows: (a) parallel and hardware
accelerated models, (b) multilevel force-directed models and (c)
multidimensional scaling force-directed algorithms. Five categories of
application domains in which force-directed algorithms have been adopted for
schematic drawings and placement are also summarised: (a) aesthetic drawings
for general networks, (b) component placement and scheduling in high-level
synthesis of very-large-scale integration circuits design, (c) information
visualisation, (d) biological network visualisation and (e) node placement and
localisation for sensor networks.
