shownübereinanderliegendenoccurs

shownübereinanderliegendenoccurs is a coined term used in discussions of data visualization and cognitive perception to describe a perceptual effect in which events, elements, or data points that occur in close temporal proximity are displayed in a manner that makes them appear to occur simultaneously or as a single, overlapped block. The term is used to describe legibility challenges that arise when visual representations stack information along a shared axis and cause occlusion of individual items.

The word fuses the German phrase übereinanderliegenden (lying one above the other, stacked) with the English verb occurs, creating a hybrid that signals an overlap-based perception. It is not standard German or English and has appeared only in limited, niche discussions.

Contexts include timeline visualizations, Gantt charts, event logs, and map overlays, where multiple events share nearly the same timestamp or location. In such cases, items can blur into a single block, complicating interpretation. Common mitigations include jittering the display, adjusting transparency, enabling interactive filtering or brushing, and using alternative layouts that reduce overlap.

As a term, shownübereinanderliegendenoccurs remains fringe and primarily appears in blog posts or design discussions rather than formal literature. Some users treat it as a descriptive heuristic rather than a formal concept.

See also: occlusion, overlap, stacked visualization, timeline visualization, data readability.