Excellent Visualisation of UK Air Traffic

NATS Produce another excellent data visualisation film

First spotted on on the excellent BoingBoing blog this video is both enchanting and beguiling. Enchanting because of the beautiful rendering illustrating mechanical flight and beguiling because of all the issue surrounding commercial aviation means I shouldn’t be so impressed. Having worked with motion graphics I have some affiliation with the technique, but you don’t need to be a professional graphic designer or animator to recognise the quality of the movement as represented by the light trails.

I also like seeing the ‘air lanes’ – the routes the planes follow between continents and their approach to the runways. Or, as it becomes clear, the circling round and round waiting to land, like cars queuing to get into IKEA on a bank holiday weekend!