VizWorld.com

The NYC Subway map is one of the most iconic maps around, constantly mirrored and mimic’ed in various visualizations.  A new project from Chen Alexander animates the trains on the map, and adds an interesting musical aspect to it all.  And puts the results on the web, all in HTML5 Canvas (No Flash).

The piece follows some rules. Every minute, it checks for new trains launched from their end stations. The train then moves towards the end of the line, with its speed set by the schedule’s estimated trip duration. Some decisions were made for musical, aesthetic, and technical reasons, such as fading out routes over time, the gradual time acceleration, and limiting the number of concurrent trains. Also, I used the weekday schedule. Some of these limitations result in subtle variations, as different trains are chosen during each 24-hour loop.

MTA.ME.

Graphics, Science art, map, newyork, subway

Infosthetics has found a fun website called “PlayaroundNYC”, which uses the power of social visualization to see where playgrounds are located around New York city, in the hopes of finding locations in need of more.

The neighborhood playground support map is the result of combining several different types of data sets. First, each playground was assigned a quality rating. Currently quality is mainly determined by nearness to major and minor truck routes. A grid of points were then sampled on the map, by determining the nearest playgrounds, walking distance to these playgrounds, and the quality of these playgrounds. These factors are combined to assign each point an overall rating which estimates how well that area is supported by playgrounds. Lastly, the various support ratings are interpolated to generate the heatmap visual effect.

via PlayaroundNYC: Exploring the Distribution of Playgrounds in NY – information aesthetics.

Science interactive, newyork

A new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York uses computer simulations and visualization to show what Manhattan island looked like when it was first discovered back in 1609.

The show’s imagery, created by Markley Boyer, even allows us to envision Manhattan as it might have looked in 1609, when Henry Hudson and his men sailed past. It was a verdant paradise. Its temperate climate and its location atop an estuary, where freshwater and saltwater meet, created, Mr. Sanderson suggests, a habitat of extraordinary diversity.

via Exhibition Review – ‘Mannahatta/Manhattan – A Natural History of New York City’ – Manhattan – An Island Always Diverse, at the Museum of the City of New York – NYTimes.com.

Graphics, Science exhibit, museum, newyork, simulation