GENERATING ANIMATED VORONOI TREEMAPS TO VISUALIZE DYNAMIC HIERARCHICAL DATA WITH NODE INSERTION

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for generating animated treemaps, such as Voronoi treemaps, with node insertion to visualize dynamic hierarchical data. A treemap is processed by obtaining a multi-level tessellation having a plurality of existing regions; and inserting at least one new region into the multi-level tessellation by adjusting one or more of a size and location of at least one of the existing regions. In this manner, a stability of the treemap is preserved. The insertion selects a vertex of the multi-level tessellation as an insertion point. The selected vertex can be selected randomly from a set of vertices that define regions that are siblings to the newly inserted region; or can be a known location. A weight can be assigned to a new Voronoi generator, such as a nominal weight according to one or more constraints of the tessellation.