“…mapping art still is the result of an artistic process, including the choices of which data are to be mapped and the decision of how to visualize them” (Simanowski 175)

In Flight Patterns, UCLA artist Aaron Koblin has taken data provided by the FAA and mapped it into an electronic visualization using Adobe After Effects and/or Maya, motion graphics and animation software programs respectively. These flight patterns are represented in lines of color, superimposed over a black background. Depending on the user’s preference, the data can be viewed by altitudes, model, or manufacturer. The lines begin and end in cities around all over America, and in each view the outline of the United States can be made out, as well as educated guesses about where each of the major cities are located depending on the concentration of light in certain areas.

More interesting than the static screen shots is the YouTube video depicting flight patterns, and the number of airplanes from 5 pm eastern time to 8 pm eastern time the following day (27 hours worth of data). During this 57 second video, the multi-colored flight lines move according to the schedules of domestic and international travel. Around 1:30 am EST, the map is quiet and dark, with only 4000+ airplanes in the air. Soon, between 2 am and 5 am EST flights begin to take-off from the west coast towards the east (appropriately symbolically red, since many of these flights are named “red-eye” flights). As these flights stream over to the east and land around 6 am EST, suddenly the east coast lights up as thousands of flights take-off west, south, and north. Around midday the transatlantic flights are beginning their arrivals onto the eastern seaboard. A spray of blue flight lines pour from the right of the screen where Europe is obviously located.

The 57 seconds of activity is not only visually mesmerizing, but elucidating as well. This is simple data content in a breath-taking form. With the satellite-eye’s view of the transactions taking place in just over 24 hours (likely repeating itself every 24 hours), the sheer magnitude of planes in the air – 19200+ at its peak at 4 pm EST – gives the viewer an appreciation off all the activity managed by the FAA, for example, as well as a take on how many human bodies are thousands of feet in the air at any given moment! When the viewer takes into consideration the individual life-narratives of each passenger and multiplies that by X passengers in X planes on X flights…the data is overwhelming. What an effective interface to make that kind of information accessible and appreciable.