Hilbert Curves: Visualizing Infinite Data in Finite Spaces
Understanding the space-filling curve that gives VFP its unique ability to map linear files into recognizable 2D and 3D shapes.
How do you map a 1GB file onto a screen without losing the sense of "where" things are? The answer lies in 19th-century mathematics: The Hilbert Curve.
Locality Preservation
Most visualizers simply wrap data into rows and columns. When you do this, bytes that are close together in the file end up far apart on the screen. The Hilbert Curve is a space-filling curve that preserves data locality. If two bytes are neighbors in the 2D map, they are almost certainly neighbors in the actual file.
Why it Matters for Forensics
This locality preservation is what allows VFP to form "shapes." A cluster of malicious code appears as a distinct "blob" or "peak." Without the Hilbert Curve, that same code would be scattered across the screen as static. We use math to create meaning from chaos.