Software Toolkits for Infovis : http://www.infovis.net/printMag.php?num=162&lang=2 including this Toolkit roots go back to PAD (around 1993), PAD++ . As a successor of Jazz, one of Piccolo's strong points is the ZUIS or "Zoomable User Interfaces" in which the user is provided with an infinitely scalable virtual interface where you can easliy go from the overview to the detail. These types of interfaces include the concept of semantic zoom by which the zoomed representation of an object is not simply the scaling of its geometric shape, but the shape or representation that is most suitable at that scale to convey the meaning of the object and ease the understanding of its nature. For example, at a certain scale level an object can be just a dot, at another it can be depicted as a labeled box while still at another it can be a rectangle with little characters. Any version of Piccolo can be downloaded for free.
http://www.oculusinfo.com/ Oculus website
http://www.advizorsolutions.com/ Advizor Solutions website
http://www.visualinsights.com/ Visual Insights website
http://ivtk.sourceforge.net/ Description of The InfoVis Toolkit
http://www.inria.fr/index.en.html INRIA
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/agile2d/index.shtml Agile2D Implementation of Java2D in OpenGL
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ivtk/ InfoVis Toolkit at Source Forge
http://www.sourceforge.net Source Forge, open software repository
http://www.infovis.net/printMag.php?num=137&lang=2 Issue 137 about Graphs
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jheer/infovis/final/ Vizster
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~jheer/anlp/final/ Exploring Enron
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/piccolo/index.shtm HCIL at InfoVis.net
http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/timesearcher/ Time Searcher 2
http://www.geovistastudio.psu.edu/jsp/index.jsp GeoVista
http://iv.slis.indiana.edu/ InfoVis Cyberinfrastructure website

xPlane "mapping" : http://xplane.com/xblog/?cat=42 included "Making Maps Easy to Read": http://richardphillips.org.uk/maps/index.htm to " Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London: SDUK, 1830-40" : http://www.philaprintshop.com/sdukcty.html

As a painter might pull imagery from the paint, the map as a birds-eye-view is a locative tool, which allows artists to playfully or poetically free information about physical and psychological space. : http://rhizome.org/art/exhibition/location_is_everything/home.html

Map folding : http://www.designerstoolbox.com/print/foldings.php?PHPSESSID=08980fb590279f0db912ff6218ddeb5a

Map ClipArt examples : http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/results.aspx?lc=en-gb&Query=map&Scope=MC&CTT=1&Origin=EC790000121033&QueryID=2Tw6fj1NK0&TRC=1200&iStartAt=625

"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows you are slightly cracked." -
"Spectators do not find what they desire: they desire what they find." - Guy Debord, 'Refutations...