DATA REDUCTION FOR GENERATING HEAT MAPS

Techniques of collecting and displaying data include mapping user interaction data having multiple components (or, dimensions) to a plurality of buckets representing a set of values of each of the components. When a user causes a computer to generate user interaction data by interacting with an object on an electronic display, the computer performs a mapping of the many components of the user interaction data to a plurality of buckets. Each bucket represents a set of values of the user interaction data. The number of buckets is far smaller than the number of possible data points. Accordingly, rather than individual, multidimensional data points being transmitted to another computer that compiles the user interaction data into heat maps, a relatively small number of bucket identifiers are transmitted. In this way, the analysis of the user interaction data requires minimal resources and can take place in real time.