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Flight Patterns

Blue, green, and yellow networked lines intersect against a black background, roughly forming the shape of America.
© Aaron Koblin.

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  • Blue, green, and yellow networked lines intersect against a black background, roughly forming the shape of America.

Date:

2011

Artist:

Aaron Koblin
American, born 1982

About this artwork

Flight Patterns is a time-lapse animation that employs data visualization and processing, an open-source computer programming environment, in order to display American air-traffic patterns and densities over a twenty-four-hour period. Begun as a larger project at UCLA with designers Scott Hessels and Gabriel Dunne, Aaron Koblin’s animations follow the routes of 140,000 airplanes crossing the United States beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. Koblin uses variations of color and pattern to illustrate a wide range of data and events, including aircraft type, alterations to routes, changes in flight traffic over certain geographical areas, weather systems, and no-fly zones. As the animation reveals multiple iterations of flight patterns during the cycle, the viewer experiences a changing, phantom geography of the country with airline hubs appearing as bright points of diffusion within a complex web.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Aaron Koblin (Designer)

Title

Flight Patterns

Place

United States (Object made in:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

2011

Medium

Animation

Dimensions

N/A

Credit Line

Funds provided by the Architecture & Design Society

Reference Number

2011.275

Copyright

© Aaron Koblin.

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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