Thursday, October 12, 2017

Big Planes & Little Planes in Real-Time


Real-time flight tracking maps have been around for a number of years now. Flightradar24 is a great example of a website which allows you to search and view airplanes moving in real-time on an interactive map.

Aviation Tracker down't have all the amazing options available in Flightradar24 but it does have an interesting approach to visualizing planes live on a map. The aircraft on Aviation Tracker are displayed on the map using scaled markers to reflect the altitude of each plane. The larger the aircraft marker then the higher the altitude of the plane.

In other words Aviation Tracker simulates a top down view. It is almost as if you were in space looking down at the Earth - so that the planes flying at the lowest altitude are further away and therefore appear smaller. It's a shame Aviation Tracker doesn't include a satellite view to help enhance this sense of looking down at the world's air traffic from outer space.

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