Cypher query in neo4j to find specific node with most paths matching pattern

Question

I have a neo4j database with statistical information on water and waste. In this database are data points linked with the facts that are relevant, including mappings to internal definitions. Here in the attached screenshot is an example of a data point and the related metadata. The node in the center is the value, and the immediate nodes linked by "HAS_DIMENSION" are the dimensions that came with the data provider. These are not fixed and change depending on the provider. Each dimension of interest is mapped to an internal definition. Currently this is my query:

MATCH (o:Observation {uq_id:'e__ABS_AGR_AQ__FSW__MIO_M3__BG__1970____9f07c7a629625e5ae00e35838fcd4f824a3593dd'})-[:HAS_DIMENSION]->()
MATCH (o)-[:HAS_DIMENSION]->()-[:HAS_SYNONYM_FROM]->()-[:WITH_TARGET_DEF]->(v:Variable)<-[:HAS_UNIT]-(u:Unit)
MATCH (o)-[vl0:HAS_DIMENSION]->()-[:HAS_SYNONYM_FROM]->()-[:WITH_TARGET_DEF]->(l:Location)
MATCH (o)-[vc0:HAS_DIMENSION]->()-[:HAS_SYNONYM_FROM]->()-[:WITH_TARGET_DEF]->(c:Country)
MATCH (o)-[vy0:HAS_DIMENSION]->()-[:HAS_SYNONYM_FROM]->()-[:WITH_TARGET_DEF]->(y:Year)
MATCH (o)-[:HAS_DIMENSION]->(unk0)
MATCH (o)-[sr0:CAME_FROM_FILE]->(ds0)-[sr1:BELONGS_TO]->(s0)
OPTIONAL MATCH (o)-[dtr0:HAS_DIMENSION]->()-[:HAS_SYNONYM_FROM]->()-[:WITH_TARGET_DEF]->(d:DataType)
RETURN *

The issue I have is exemplified by the pink circles. I want only one pink circle (which is a node with label Variable) in the query, in particular I want the variable like follows

MATCH (v:Variable)<-[:MAPS_TO]-()<-[:HAS_DIMENSION]-(o:Observation)

By this I want to force it to observe a pattern where it identifies the single variable that matches the pattern above for the most number of intermediate nodes. So the "Fresh surface water abstracted" variable would match this pattern, since it has two paths that match this. But the "Fresh groundwater abstracted" would not, since it only has one. How could I accomplish this?

Answer 1

It sounds like you want to return the Variable node with the most number of paths leading to it. Would something like this roughly return the results you are after? You will need to adapt according to your matching statements.

MATCH p=(o:Observation {uq_id:'<your_id>'})-[:HAS_DIMENSION]->()<-[:MAPS_TO]-(v:Variable)
RETURN v.name, COUNT(p) as p ORDER BY p DESC LIMIT 1