Identity graph viewer
An identity graph is a map of relationships between different identities for a particular customer, providing you with a visual representation of how your customer interacts with your brand across different channels. All customer identity graphs are collectively managed and updated by Adobe Experience Platform Identity Service in near real-time, in response to customer activity.
The identity graph viewer in the Platform user interface allows you to visualize and better understand what customer identities are stitched together, and in what ways. The viewer allows you to drag and interact with different parts of the graph, allowing you to examine complex identity relationships, debug more efficiently, and benefit from increased transparency with how information is being utilized.
The following document provides steps on how to access and use the identity graph viewer in the Platform UI.
Tutorial video
The following video is intended to support your understanding of the identity graph viewer.
Getting started
Working with the identity graph viewer requires an understanding of the various Adobe Experience Platform services involved. Before beginning to work with the identity graph viewer, please review the documentation for the following services:
- Identity Service: Gain a better view of individual customers and their behavior by bridging identities across devices and systems.
- Real-Time Customer Profile: Identity graphs are leveraged by Real-Time Customer Profile to create a comprehensive and singular view of your customer attributes and behavior.
Terminology
- Identity (node): An identity or a node is data unique to an entity, typically a person. An identity is comprised of an identity namespace and an identity value. For example, a fully qualified identity could consist of an identity namespace for Email, combined with an identity value of robin@email.com.
- Link (edge): A link or an edge represents the connection between identities. Identity links include properties such as first established and last updated timestamps. The first established timestamp defines the date and time at which a new identity is linked to an existing identity. The last updated timestamp defines the date and time at which an existing identity link was last updated.
- Graph (cluster): A graph or a cluster is a group of identities and links that represent a person.
Access the identity graph viewer access-identity-graph-viewer
In the Platform UI, select Identities in the left navigation and then select Identity Graph from the list of tabs in the header.
To view an identity graph, provide an identity namespace and its corresponding value and then select View.
Understanding the identity graph viewer interface
The identity graph viewer interface is made up of several elements that you can use to interact with and better understand your identity data.
The identity graph displays all of the identities linked to the identity namespace and value combination that you entered. Each node consists of an identity namespace and its corresponding value. You can select, hold, and drag any node to interact with the graph. Alternatively, you can hover over a node to see information about its corresponding identity value. Select View graph to hide or display the graph.
Select a link within the graph to see the dataset and batch ID that contribute to that link. Selecting a link also updates the right rail to provide more information on data source details, as well as properties like first established and last updated timestamps.
The Identities table provides a different view of your identity data, listing out the identity namespace and the identity value combination in a tabular format. Selecting a node in the graph will update the highlighted line item in the Identities table.
Use the dropdown menu to sort through the graph data and highlight information on a specific identity namespace. For example, select Email from the menu to view data specific to the email identity namespace.
The right rail displays information on a selected identity, including its last updated timestamp. The right rail also displays information on the data source that corresponds with the selected identity, including its batch ID, dataset name, dataset ID, and schema name.
The following table provides additional information on the data source properties displayed in the right rail:
You can also use the Data source to see a list of data sources that contribute to your identities. Select Data source for a tabular view of your datasets and batch IDs.
Use the slider to filter graph data by the time at which identities were first established. By default, the identity graph viewer displays all identities linked within the graph. Hold and drag the slider to adjust the time to the last timestamp at which a new identity was linked to the graph. In the example below, the graph displays that the most recent identity link (GAID) was established on 08/19/2020, 4:29:29 PM.
Adjust the slider to see that another identity link (Email) was established on 08/19/2020, 4:25:30 PM.
You can also adjust the slider to see the earliest iteration of the graph. In the example below, the identity graph viewer displays that the graph was first created on 08/19/2020, 4:11:49 PM, with its first links being ECID, Email, and Phone.
Appendix
The following section provides additional information for working with the identity graph viewer.
Understanding error messages
Errors may happen when accessing the identity graph viewer. The following is a list of prerequisites and limitations to take note of when working with the identity graph viewer.
- An identity value must exist in the selected namespace.
- The identity graph viewer requires a minimum of two linked identities to generate. It is possible that there is only one identity value and no linked identities, and in this case, the value would only exist in Profile viewer.
- The identity graph viewer cannot exceed the maximum of 50 identities.
Access the identity graph viewer from datasets
You can also access the identity graph viewer using the datasets interface. From the datasets Browse page, select a dataset you want to interact with, and then select Preview dataset
From the preview window, select a fingerprint icon to see the identities represented through the identity graph viewer.
Next steps
By reading this document, you have learned how to explore your customers’ identity graphs in the Platform UI. For more information on identities in Platform, please refer to the Identity Service overview
Changelog
- Added support for streaming ingested data and non-production sandbox.
- Minor bug fixes.
- Identity graph viewer is made accessible through dataset preview.
- Minor bug fixes.
- Identity graph viewer is made Generally Available.
- UI updates.