An aggregation approach allows for a dynamic, interactive, adaptive level-of-detail for 2D, 2.5D, and 3D treemaps for visualization of complex information. For example, the 2.5D treemap visualization concept is extended by providing adaptive identification of aggregates by means of an interactive node scoring approach based on contextual relevance and various other task, interaction, visibility, and/or performance specific criteria. For the resulting mapping and rendering, a per-frame aggregation of blocks and accumulation of those attributes mapped to visual variables (context) is described. Since every embodiment is also targeted for dynamic, interactive visual display of 2.5D treemaps, the rendering is designed to be capable for execution in real-time. Visual preservation of important information is conveyed by hierarchy elements and their mapped attributes (nodes-of-interest) as well as compliance to known aggregation guidelines including visualization of aggregated color and height information, visualization of aggregates that are discernible from non-aggregates, and visualization of outliers within aggregates. Applications include visualization of software maps, business intelligence data, file hierarchies for storage devices, and the like.