Film: Flight Patterns + US Post Offices

24 hours of flight data.

Aircraft colored by type.

For more information please see:
http://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/flightpatterns/

This is a visualization of US expansion in North America from 1700 to 1900, seen through changes in the spatial distribution of post offices.

Data from the USPS Postmaster Finder, with lat/long coordinates extracted from placenames through correlation with the USGS Geographic Names Information System.

Better in HD! Made with Processing. More at http://blog.dwtkns.com/2011/posted/

Update: I've also uploaded an interactive version of this map at http://blog.dwtkns.com/2011/posted_interactive/