Currently applied to massive, heterogeneous, and dynamic datasets, such as those generated in studies of astrophysical, fluidic, biological, and other complex processes, the techniques have become sophisticated enough to allow the interactive manipulation of variables in real time.
Ultra high-resolution displays allow teams of researchers to zoom in to examine specific aspects of the renderings, or to navigate along interesting visual pathways, following their intuitions and even hunches to see where they may lead.
Most recently, Franco Moretti's Graphs, maps, trees: abstract models for a literary history[3] (published in 2005) along with many projects in the Digital Humanities reveal the benefit of large scale analysis of cultural material.
The technologies used for analyzing and exploring large visual collections range from open-source programs that run on any personal computer to supercomputer processing and large-scale displays such as the HIPerSpace (42,000 x 8000 pixels).
Cultural analytics relies heavily on software-based tools, and the field is related to the nascent discipline of software studies.