Continuous depiction of quantities

If an attribute is given as attribute values, a continuous (or steady) depiction of values can be used. This method can be either strictly proportional to the area of the signature or can be designed continuously in a more arbitrary way.

In general, a proportional continuous depiction should be aimed for. This may, however, lead to cluttered maps. This is particularly the case if the values are diverging heavily, which cause extreme values to be represented as symbols whose size would occlude the map too much or which would not be visible anymore. In such cases, the arbitrary continuous depiction should be chosen. It has to be taken care of, however, that extreme values can still be identified as such. For very small values, non-proportional minimal signatures can be used.