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Global Air Traffic as Data Art

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Why we love it

You’ve heard of art for art’s sake. We love this map because it is data for art’s sake—the growing cartographic practice of data art. This kind of map creates its own aesthetic through patterns made by data. In this case, the map shows all known connections between origin and destination airports across the globe, a total of 58,000 routes on one map. A single, bright color atop a dark, simple basemap provides high contrast and immediate visual impact.

Why it works

This map uses high contrast and a limited color palette. To achieve harmony, there is artful interplay between background and foreground. The design is dramatic, showing the dataset and letting the patterns speak for themselves. Using very high transparency on individual symbols (98%) shows density of routes in congested areas and avoids a jumbled mess of lines. Projection is also important and here, Web Mercator transforms essentially straight flight paths into beautiful curves.

Important steps

  • Create a simple spreadsheet

    Process data from openflights.org in Excel to create a simple spreadsheet of origin and destination airports, each as a unique row with latitude and longitude.

  • Run the XY-to-Line tool

    Import the data to ArcGIS and run the XY-to-Line tool using the start and end coordinates of each pair of airports to create a line feature between them.

  • Symbolize the lines

    Symbolize the lines using 98% transparency and using the Dark Gray Canvas Basemap.

  • Publish

    Publish to ArcGIS Online as a cached tile service.
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Requirements

  • Data and software

    Patterns are made by a large dataset of a single phenomenon. The raw data structure forms the final map and, in this case, creates the shapes of continents, countries, and cities. Software used: ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, Story Map Basic.

  • Analysis

    This map uses an accurate digital globe and the XY-to-line geoprocessing tool included in ArcMap, which creates an accurate representation of the shortest path around the globe.
    XY to Line tool

  • Time

    It should take one hour, though the size of your dataset can affect processing times.
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Tips and tricks

  • Look at the raw data

    A view of raw data can often reveal patterns and provoke additional questions which becomes a jumping-off point for further mapping. It’s a great first look.
    3D web scenes take flight

  • Do not clutter your data

    Keep your map deliberately devoid of clutter to allow people to simply experience the data as art.

  • Determine the transparency

    The ability to change transparency at the symbol level is available in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online.
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Resources

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Cartoon of Ken Field, Map Author

Map Author

Ken Field

Professional cartonerd, amateur drummer and snowboarder. Lifetime encourager of cartographic quality not quantity. Map with the times while building on the past.

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Learn more about making maps in ArcGIS Online

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