Map Gallery

A Sea of Stuff: cargo and tanker shipping routes visualized

• Submitted: October 31st, 2011
• Author: John Nelson, Merav Nahoom
• Company/Organization: IDV Solutions
• Map Website: http://uxblog.idvsolutions.com/2011/10/shipping-mix.html

Description

One year of shipping data parsed by cargo and tanker traffic.  Treated to highlight well-worn paths, these map shows routes and ports frequented by shipments of ‘stuff,’ shipments of ‘oil,’ or a mix of this traffic.

Technology Used

Data are stored in SQL Server.  Utilized SQL Server spatial functions to extrapolate new coordinates along their orientation to visually elevate routing networks.  IDV Solutions’ Visual Fusion server used to weigh inputs by speed and serve up as a frequency heatmap where faster traffic is promoted to further define open shipping lanes.  Visual Fusion Experience (VFX) used to render the results in a web-based geographic client for interactive viewing and, in this case, image export.