Comments on: Air Traffic Control Animation

Air Traffic Control Animation

carter — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 10:40:47 -0800

Ant Farm in the Sky - a day in the life of air traffic over the United States [.mov]. Out of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and seen in Cabinet Magazine.

By: gwint

gwint — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 10:55:02 -0800

I love that movie. Saw it a few years ago and was totally captivated. It always makes me think of the poem Ode to an Air Traffic Controller.

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 11:37:57 -0800

Very interesting, but why was it 13 megabytes? Seems like it could have been under 3.

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 11:44:47 -0800

That's really really interesting. Thanks for the link.

By: arse_hat

arse_hat — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 12:57:34 -0800

Cool but the way the planes just disappear of the lower left corner is a bit disturbing.

By: mach

mach — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:03:59 -0800

It would have been better just using small dots to represent the airplanes instead of little plane icons. It makes the middle of the visualization way too busy.

By: kuatto

kuatto — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:11:17 -0800

This is rather disturbing I'd have to say. At least these jets are powered by kerosene and not nuclear powered ram jets. Still though, according to various news stories, commercial air traffic puts out as much CO2 as the entire continent of Africa.

By: Hobbacocka

Hobbacocka — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:26:23 -0800

What's with the map? Florida looks engorged. Are all those little sections sky-states or something?

By: QuestionableSwami

QuestionableSwami — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 14:07:04 -0800

It's also interesting to scroll the movie back and forth slowly. You can see patterns; things like the sudden burst of aircraft outbound from the Tennessee area around 9-10am -- probably UPS/Fedex cargo traffic heading out. Thanks for the link.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 17:34:13 -0800

You can also follow the terminator: the line that seperates night from day. You can see how the traffic gradually migrates to the west coast only to be followed by a flurry of traffic from Europe into the northeast 8 hours later. Then you can see the West Coast wake up again. I'm sending this to my friend who programs ATC software. He's probably seen it, though.

By: carter

carter — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 07:31:02 -0800

- Yes - I found the diurnal rhythms fascinating.