Visualizing the Port of Antwerp

Posted 2009.09.29

I just came across this beautiful visualization of vessel movements on sea on visualcomplexity.com today. Not only is it a spectacular visualization that uses millions of datapoints, it is also very close to my heart as it shows shipping movement around the port of Antwerp, my hometown.

The graph below shows shipping movements around the nearby port of Rotterdam. You can clearly see the shipping lanes that show traffic on sea is not an open playground as the authors say.

The illustration below however shows shipping movements during bad weather. This clearly makes it a lot harder for ships to stay on course.

This last picture gives the overview of the movements around Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Another beauty showing the connectivity between the Netherlands and Belgium. I might frame this one!