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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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