A new procedure for the visual inspection of multivariate data of different geographic origins

A new display method to be used for data of different geographic origin is presented. A geographic map of the region is shown, the zone corresponding to each sample being in a colour which is derived from the sum of the fundamental colours which have been associated with the variables (original or transformed). Three real examples show that the interpretation of the resulting plots is much easier compared to dealing with classical loading and score plots, both concerning the differences between the objects as well as the relative importance of the variables