Live Earth
Live Earth is a real-time planetary data console that visualizes the world as it moves right now: commercial flights, ocean vessels, earthquakes, active volcanoes, wildfires, storms, and the International Space Station, all plotted live on a single dark map. Data streams continuously from open sources including NASA, USGS, OpenSky, and global AIS ship-tracking networks, refreshing every 15–120 seconds depending on the layer. Toggle any layer on or off, click a marker for its live telemetry, and watch the planet’s current state unfold in one view, less a map than a proxemic instrument for the Earth itself. The console tests whether a feed of planetary activity can be read as composition rather than surveillance, a live portrait of the world’s condition rather than a tool for tracking it.
Research Question
At what point does a real-time console of planetary movement stop functioning as a tracking utility and start operating as a proxemic instrument, registering the world’s current distance, density, and activity rather than monitoring discrete events within it?
Medium
Generative Web Application, Real-Time Data Console, Cartography
Keywords
Live Data, Planetary Systems, Proxemics, Open Data, Real-Time Mapping