TOPIC: Clustering the HotSpots

To overcome the problem of too many "hotspots" on a map, most maps usually take the approach of combining them into a single spot with a label indicating how many spots are contained within that area. As you zoom in, it breaks down into smaller and smaller clusters; and eventually into the single spots.

I've seen this in many maps and believe it to be a far superior solution than what is done in HotSpots. I'd highly recommend going this route instead. It's what I was originally looking for but couldn't find one available.

Here is an example:
www.alloutfitters.com/map/

Thanks!

Even maps.google.com is not going that route...

The custom tiles method is far more supirior than the other types of clustering. You can move over each individual location and click on it directly you don't have to zoom 20 times till you get the individual locations.