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Hmmm ... yeah i actually would use the 3D Engine for something liek this also, handling such polygonamounts via Octreebased algorythm is no problem.. and the zooming part wouldn't be either ( Plus 3d with eg. Billboarding would make up for some neat possible effects later on too =P ).

However for that you still need to think about a Serious Datamanagement to not overkill the whole thing maybe even segment it and then creat ethe scene by datasegment...otherwise you will sooner or later run into Memoryproblems just because of the sheer amount of Data.. The otehr idea would be to use some sort of SQL Database Server to store the Data and then create a scene on a client machine out of it.

Greets, Thalius

why not simply let 1 dot represent 10 or 100 people? from a statistical point of view that should work just as well, especially in certain types of simulations

Heres the other idea i had...

based on the SQL Idea as Data Backend. You could segment the whole map get the segment data and handle it segmented for the Display at least.
Then let's say calculate it per segment to a let's say 2048*2048 Picture ( which should be no Overkill both in Memory and CPU Usage ) for the display and shift the precision on the Zoom ( 1:1 , 1:2 etc etc . ).

If you then still need a full precision Picture you can calculate each segment and save it as compressed png ( which should be managable in puncto Storage Space ) maybe even using a lower bit format 4 or 8 bit should suffice i would guess. In the end you can combine the segments together and do what you like with it.. however you prolly would have to for example give it to a print office to make use of its resolution ( and most likely the only place where they can handle a pic with such dimensions... if at all .. )

But doing this in one non segmented run not reducing the precision is too much for any kind of Home Computer.

Greets, Thalius