A hierarchical shared resources spatial visualization system and method including a visualization runtime user interface that quickly and efficiently displays a spatial layout of a shared resource having a hierarchical nature. The user interface provides a spatial layout of the hierarchical shared resource and overlays salient activity information of a group's interaction with the shared resource. In software development, the user interface provides software teams with awareness of activity by other developers in the group regarding files in the shared source code base. The salient activity includes active file information (such as which files are open and by whom) and source repository actions (such as a developer's activity within a project's source repository system). Visual geometry and colors are employed to create a visually distinctive environment that is used to convey the salient activity information quickly and efficiently.