title: Effective way to visualize and navigate huge log files
body: <p>I am in the process of designing a tool to visualize java logs. Specifically, these logs are generated by printing to the console whenever a method is invoked and whenever it is returned. These log statements are injected into the entire Android OS source code using bytecode manipulation. So far we have been able to instrument the Android OS and generate these log statements. The fields contained in these log statements are: process that invoked the method, method signature, argument types, return type and time stamp<br/><br/>
  The tool that uses these logs will have a detailed view (on zooming in) and a high-level overview (on zooming out). I am looking for efficient ways of visualizing and navigating this huge log file at high-level overview to get valuable information. Each log statement has a hierarchical relationship to another log statement. For Example, a log statement for a method invocation will be the parent of all the log statements of the methods invoked from within the parent method. </p>
  
  <p>My questions are,  <br/></p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>What would be an effective way to visualize and navigate these hierarchical log statements in a huge log file to get a good high-level overview? Sequence diagrams are useful for a detailed view but aren't suitable for a huge call trace.</li>
  <li>Are there any existing tools in the market that have similar functionality? I have looked at log visualization tools but none have the high-level overview visualization. </li>
  <li>As an app developer who is equipped with an instrumented VM that generates log statement for each called method and who can run an app on the said android VM, what information would be useful to you?</li>
  <li>Any other suggestions?</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p><br/>Thanks in advance.</p>
  
  <p>Edit: I added a few more details about hierarchical nature of the log statements.</p>