suggestions for visualization of search engine results?

hello all. I’m working on a project right now to visually represent search engine hits in some manner. So far I plan on creating a US map and plot the server locations according to lat/long with some extra features, such as different colors for .edu, .com, etc… different gradients and vector lengths according to the priority of the specific hit, as well as all the neat widgets that you can manipulate and control the map with.

Anyway, I would like any suggestions on other visualization implementations that people may have, not necessarily just for the map, but any thing that people may have a cool idea for.

I was also wondering if there are any scientific journals that have studied how people conceptualize information so I can get more ideas on visualization implementations to vit those concepts.

As alway, thanks in advance for any input.

There was a research project at a swedish research institue called SICS some years ago on how to visualize “trails” on the internet, i.e. links/sites visited by lots of surfers. I thhink the idea is extremely cool, but I don’t know what they came up with, try searching at www.sics.se