Local areas of a visualized modeling language diagram are viewable at different levels of detail without losing information such as model elements and their connectivity. Multiple elements are associated with a group element, which has a visual portion derived from the appearance of a group member element. Connectors between group member elements and non-member elements are suppressed in favor of replacement connectors between the group element and the non-member element(s). The integrity of incoming and outgoing connections to the group is maintained relative to the rest of the model. Ungrouping elements restores the elements to their original state. Grouping can be applied locally to one or more parts of the visual model.