This could be in a High-density Information Display , or a Map of Navigable Spaces , or as the organizing principle for a Stack of Working Surfaces . The user should see the structure of the data.
Hierarchies are easy to understand.
They are also quick to traverse, if the user knows where something is in the hierarchy. Show the data in a tree-like structure. Keep all the nodes at a given depth from the root in the same line, plane, or arc, to emphasize their parallelism. Allow non-leaf nodes to be opened and closed, to give the user control over how much of the hierarchy is visible at any one time. Pointer Shows Affordance is a way to indicate that a node can be opened or closed.