The subject disclosure is directed towards simulating query execution to provide incremental visualization for a global data set. A data store may be configured for searching at least a portion of a global data set being stored at an enterprise-level data store. In response to a user-issued query, partial query results are provided to a front-end interface for display to the user. The front-end interface also provides statistical information corresponding to the partial query results in relation to the global data set, which may be used to determine when a current set of query results becomes acceptable as a true/accurate estimate.