Macquarie University and Capital Markets CRC

This paper presents a technique for visualizing large spatial data sets in Web Mapping Systems (WMS). The technique creates a hierarchical clustering tree, which is subsequently used to extract clusters that can be displayed at a given scale without cluttering the map. Voronoi polygons are used as aggregation symbols to represent the clusters. This tech-nique retains hierarchical relationships between data items at different scales. In addition, aggregation symbols do not overlap, and their sizes and the number of points that they cover is controlled by the same parameter. A prototype has been implemented and tested showing the effectiveness of the method for visualizing large data sets in WMS