1. A method for compressing multi-dimensional data for use with data processing and data transmission systems, comprising the steps of: a) receiving the multi-dimensional data at a first port of said data processing system, the multi-dimensional data comprising a plurality of data vectors indicative of an image of an object; b) using electronic circuitry to separate the plurality of data vectors into at least two clusters based on similarity of the data vectors such that similar vectors are grouped together into one of said at least two clusters; and, c) providing each of the at least two clusters to at least a compression engine for processing, results from said at least a compression engine being for transmission using said transmission system; wherein the data vectors are partitioned into the at least two clusters based on the distance of a data vector to the centroid of each of the at least two clusters and wherein said data vectors are spectral data vectors having multi-spectral data and wherein said separation of said data vectors into clusters reduces artificial visual boundaries in a decompressed version of said image.