View weighted graph with GraphPlot

Here is a simple example on how to customizing Graphplot. We like to use GraphPlot to visualize the number of people who commute into or out Monroe county from/to its neighbor counties.

g={{"Owen" -> "Monroe", 2813}, {"Greene" -> "Monroe",
  3788}, {"Lawrence" -> "Monroe", 4022}, {"Jackson" -> "Monroe",
  85}, {"Brown" -> "Monroe", 689}, {"Morgan" -> "Monroe",
  821}, {"Monroe" -> "Owen", 676}, {"Monroe" -> "Greene",
  207}, {"Monroe" -> "Lawrence", 679}, {"Monroe" -> "Brown",
  303}, {"Monroe" -> "Morgan", 617}}

vercoor={"Monroe" -> {-86.529, 39.1621}, "Owen" -> {-86.7642, 39.2868}, "Greene" -> {-86.9403, 39.0246},  "Lawrence" –> {  -86.4923,  38.8627}, "Jackson" -> {-86.0462, 38.8798},  "Brown" -> {-86.2382, 39.203}, "Morgan" -> {-86.4238, 39.4233}}

First try:

GraphPlot[g, VertexLabeling -> True, VertexCoordinateRules -> vercoor]

Using arrow to indicate in/out seems to be a good idea. We use EdgeRenderingFunction in second try:

GraphPlot[g, VertexLabeling -> True,
EdgeRenderingFunction -> (Arrow[#1, 0.05] &),
VertexCoordinateRules -> vercoor]

However, the labels on the edge is lost. We can handle it in EdgeRenderingFunction.

GraphPlot[g, VertexLabeling -> True,
EdgeRenderingFunction -> ({Text[#3, Mean[#1]], Arrow[#1, 0.05]} &),  VertexCoordinateRules -> vercoor]

The graph is still difficult to read, the commuting pattern isn’t clear at a glance. We further update EdgeRenderingFunction and use the line color and thickness to show the pattern.

GraphPlot[g,
EdgeRenderingFunction -> ({If[#2[[1]] == "Monroe", Red, Blue],
     AbsoluteThickness[0.5 + #3/500], Arrowheads[0.02 + #3/120000],  Arrow[#1, 0.05]} &), VertexLabeling -> True,
VertexCoordinateRules -> vercoor]

In the last try, we use VertexRenderingFunction to make the label more clear.

GraphPlot[g,
EdgeRenderingFunction -> ({If[#2[[1]] == "Monroe", Red, Blue],
     AbsoluteThickness[0.5 + #3/500], Arrowheads[0.02 + #3/120000], Arrow[#1, 0.06]} &), VertexLabeling -> True,
VertexCoordinateRules -> vercoor,
VertexRenderingFunction -> ({Text[Style[#2, 14, Bold], #2 /. vercoor, Background -> White]} &)]

Import the shapefile, then you get a map: