Visualizing results with smart maps

The Smart Map is one of the most powerful ways to explore your search results or saved lists visually in Amplified.

Instead of relying on traditional filters or charts, the map lets you see how patents are grouped conceptually — making it easier to spot patterns, clusters, and areas of interest at a glance.

How the Map Works

Each point on the map represents a patent or patent family.

The map plots these points so that similar documents are placed close to each other.

🟢 Relevant patents are highlighted in green.
🟡 Flagged patents are shown in yellow.
🔴 Hidden patents appear in red.

Unlike a graph with X and Y axes, you should read this like a geographic map:

If two dots are near each other, their content is conceptually similar.

Hovering over a point shows basic information about the patent, and clicking opens the full text view.

Exploring and Customizing the Map

You can load and visualize:

Your current search results, or
Any saved tag or list from your knowledge archive.

To load a list or tag:

In the Explore panel, under Search within, select Tags or Lists.
Click the to open the side panel.
Search or scroll to find the list or tag you want to visualize.
Click the arrow icon next to the name to load it.
The map will update with the selected dataset.

The map is interactive:

Zoom in and out.
Click and drag to navigate around.
Adjust the date slider and other filters at the bottom to update the visualization in real time.

You can further customize the display using:

Color by — e.g., Cluster, IPC, CPC, Assignee, Tag status, Legal status.
Shape by — to add another layer of visual grouping.

Understanding Clusters

Amplified automatically groups similar documents into clusters, assigning each group:

A color, and
A descriptive label based on the content.

You can increase the number of clusters to reveal more granular topics within your landscape. For example:

“High-Entropy Alloy Catalysts”
“Core-Shell Electrocatalysts”
“Regenerative Fuel Cell Catalysts”

This is a powerful way to understand technology areas, themes, or emerging trends. These labels are dynamic and depend on the data, so they may change if you change or regenerate the map.

Visualizing by Concept

One of the most powerful map features is the Visualizing by menu.

By default, the map groups patents based on overall conceptual similarity.

Once AI-generated summaries have been created for your set, you can visualize by:

Problem — cluster patents solving similar problems.
Solution — cluster patents with similar technical approaches.
Challenges, Features, Benefits, Target use, or Potential use.

📝 This allows you to explore landscapes and portfolios in terms of what the patents are actually about, not just their metadata. To do this you need to first generate summaries for all the patents that you want to visualize.

Saving Clusters for Deeper Analysis

You can Save clusters to capture any group of patents as a custom list.

Saved lists are stored in your knowledge archive and can be reused across your projects.

Example workflows:

Visualize by Problem → Save cluster → Review that list in more detail (e.g., summaries view or Ask Amplified).
Visualize that saved list again for a more granular breakdown.

This is ideal for:

Competitive landscape analysis
Identifying technology trends
Building structured data sets for deeper research

⚠️ Important Note

While AI-based visualization and labeling provide a powerful acceleration, they are not perfect. Clusters and labels should be treated as guides, not conclusions. Always review the patents directly to confirm what the map suggests. Use Amplified's review tools to do this efficiently.

Summary

Use Smart Map to visually explore search results or saved lists.
Similar patents are positioned close together — think of it like a conceptual map.
Customize with color by, shape by, and clustering to reveal structure.
Switch Visualizing by to group patents by problem, solution, or other summary types.
Save clusters to build curated lists and revisit them for deeper analysis.
Always verify AI-driven insights to ensure accuracy and reliability.