This is what I have spent the Thanksgiving weekend on so far:
I created a spreadsheet for inputting all of my explored/owned worlds...it can be sorted in ascending or descending order, as usual, so any new info I get I can simply enter into the bottom row, sort the page, and the planet info zips right to it's proper place in the list. I can also sort by planet size, MP, MUs, Status, Owner, etc....it was a bit of a slog to input all of the data from previous turns, but now that it is done, it will be a simple matter to input each new world as they come in. Pretty typical spreadsheet, I know, but I can also track and sort by Max Cargo Available, Cargo Sale Price, Purchased Units, and Raided Cargo or Sale Price. Pretty handy for a pirate. Also, sorting worlds by POP makes it easy to pick the next target for a Slave run....and sorting by Empire Name makes it easy to pick the next target for a Cargo Raid (Charon Empire).
The next thing I did was create a page for each "plane" of the galaxy (I chose the middle letter as my top-bottom (Y) axis, so mMm is the middle of the M plane for me.) I have one sheet for each of the 26 planes, with the X and Z axes in fields (or boxes). So, if I scan sector CCT, for instance, it would be logged in the CT box on the C Plane sheet....highlighted in Green if there are SAFE or SCLD sub sectors in it, in Red if there is a SECTOR WIDE HAZARD, and Grey if there are NO STARS or simply RIFTS. I can get a visual of the 3_D galaxy, sort of, by either flipping through the pages to see where each sector "stacks", or I can print each page out for a more "hands on" examination. It makes plotting jump routes a lot easier for me, as I can now see where each sector is in relation to every other sector. Ideally, I would put the info into a program which can create a movable, zoomable 3-D graphic representation, but I am a lowly Chef, not a programmer.....
Finally, I created a spreadsheet which contains all of the sub-sector info for each scanned sector....so, if I need to jump to JJE for some reason, I can quickly see which sub sectors are either empty or safe, and which ones will flush my fleet down the toilet. Currently, I only have 86 sectors fully scanned, but it is enough to get a general feel for where the clumps of RIFTS and other bad ju-ju are located (and, they do seem to clump up a bit, at least in my experience so far...but it's a relatively small data sample, I admit)
The side-effect of doing my sub-sector sheet was the ability to calculate which un-mapped sub sectors were more likely to contain hazards if I needed to make a "blind jump" in order to reach a juicy raiding target....for example: out of 86 scanned sectors, sub sector 332 seemed to have more RIFTS, across the board. 17 of 86, in fact, contained RIFTS, while only 2 contained SAFE, and 2 contained SCLD sub sectors. This leads me to assume that a blind jump into sub sector 332 is probably a bad idea galaxy-wide. Again, it's a very small sample size, and that may not hold true given the size of the galaxy, but for now it puts up a red flag for me. Sub sector 211, on the other hand, contains only 2 RIFTS out of 86 sectors (but only 2 SCLD and 0 SAFE), so it "may" be that a blind jump into sub sector 211 has a greater chance of a safe landing. We'll let you know if we're wrong
Anyway, that's what the HIGH HARVEST CHURCH has done with regard to organizing our mapping and exploration. Anyone else have any good techniques?