Scientific Data As Art
Our world today is filled with all sorts of interesting data points, most of which we never see or even realize are there. Think of all the flights all over the world that happen everyday, or all the taxi rides to occur, not to mention the number of phone calls or internet activity that happens. All of these things have data associated with them that is, somewhere, recorded for posterity. Data visualization is nothing new, and sometimes it produces works that are breathtaking and cross over into art.
The BBC television show Britain From Above took all sorts satellite and air images, then mixed them with GPS and other data to produce a series of awesome photos and videos. Here are my favorites:
Air Traffic Over Britain
The Lights of Britain
Not to be outdone, FlightView and Wired magazine created this way cool Google map depicting the air traffic over the U.S. for a 24-hour period. Click here to go to the map.
And lastly, yet more airplanes! This one is also very cool. Watch the explosion of air traffic as the terminator line passes and day begins. You can also see just how less traveled South America and Africa are. Amazing.
I find this stuff to be fascinating and cool so I thought I’d share.
Related posts:
- For Sale: Data’s Head
- Scientific Things to Do Before You Die
- MIND MELD: Interesting Areas of Scientific Research
- MIND MELD: Scientific Accuracy in Stories
- MIND MELD Makeup with Jay Lake: Scientific Accuracy in Stories
Filed under: Art • Science and Technology
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That is incredible. Thank you for sharing! I watched the worldwide airtraffic 3 times. It’s amazing to watch the US turn yellow as the sun progresses.