The Best Graphics Team in the World

The Straits Times has the best graphics department in the world - probably. The Washington Post and New York Times might be contenders but because of their paywalls most of their work is hidden away from most of the world.

The latest astonishing demonstration of the graphic skills of the Straits Times comes in an article celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the construction of the Johor-Singapore Causeway. I'm not sure what this raised embankment between Johor and Singapore has done to deserve such an incredible historical account of its 100 year existence but it must have a special place in the hearts of the graphics team at the Straits Times.

An incredible interactive 3D model of the causeway drives the engagement in the article Here’s how the Johor-Singapore Causeway evolved over 100 years. I say 3D model but in fact The Straits Times hasn't created just one 3D model of the causeway but two. To show how the causeway has developed over the last 100 years the graphics team have coded one 3D model to illustrate how the causeway looked after its construction in 1924 and another model to visualize how it looks today - one century later.

The article is further enhanced by some incredibly seamless transitions between vintage photographs/videos of the causeway and the 3D models. The speed of these transitions and the fly-overs of the models are truly impressive (in fact I actually had to reduce the speed of the GIFs in this post by half because the original screen captures were so fast).

You can check out more of the incredible work of the graphics team at the Straits Times in:

• Why the Haze has Reached Singapore's Shores Again
• Singapore 2030 - an interactive 3D mapped tour of some of Singapore's development plans 
• Singapore Underwater - a VR simulation of rising sea levels
• The Colourful History of Singapore's Street Names