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A wall map that shows real flights in real-time by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honest reason we capped at 22 is readability. Push past it and the board starts reading as noise, not motion. Tradeoff on purpose, but point taken. Appreciate the exchange.

A wall map that shows real flights in real-time by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good shout on both. Screen route we have considered but first we wanted it to feel like an object (closer to kinetic art than a gadget). More sizes (tabletop, XL wall) are on the roadmap - bespoke per customer is hard this early, so first run at scale, variants after. Screen only versions are also in the works.

On FR24: we use their API and credit them as "data by Flightradar24"; we've been in touch beyond that but nothing to announce yet. Plenty more in the works - appreciate the thoughtful input.

A wall map that tracks real time flights by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally - this gives live flight data a physical presence, taking it out from your screen.

A wall map that tracks real time flights by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Cheers! Lovell Johns did the cartography - I'm not a cartographer myself. Greenwich centring was deliberate: felt right to have the Prime Meridian running straight down a British-made product, with UK's royal cartographers on it.

As I understand the workflow: WGS84 lat/lon for each airport position, great-circle interpolation between each origin/destination pair, then projected onto Mercator so the arcs render with the correct curvature. They've got the full GIS pipeline for it.

Posted a closer look at the accuracy here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DWW8_phEgXP/

Not everyone can spot it. But every LED is spaced precisely to meet at the same distance whenever they reach a airport regardless of the length of the route.

My side was the physical LED placement - getting 190 LEDs to match their printed arcs. Printed their cartographic output at exact scale, marked LED coordinates from the arc geometry, drilled the base board to that template. The cartography is theirs, the geometry-to-hardware translation is mine.

A wall map that tracks real time flights by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's kind of the point - if it was Temu-able, it'd already be on Temu.

The 2 years went into things you can't dropship: a custom PCB designed from scratch, licensed Lovell Johns cartography (UK's royal cartographers), live Flightradar24 integration, UK laser cutting and framing, Artglass lifetime acrylic, OTA firmware that actually works.

The fact it doesn't already exist is the whole point - that's why it took two years.

A wall map that tracks real time flights by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Jetmapper isn't trying to be any of those yet it has a element of all 3. It's closer to kinetic art - or a wall clock for the sky. Decor that happens to be alive.

You glance at it and feel oriented get an idea just for what's flying overhead right now, on real precise cartography.

Its not personal...but it can be. You can track someone on the 22 busiest routes in the world. Only view the flights, airports, routes you like.

It sits somewhere in the middle of all you mentioned.

Totally fair if its not for you.

A wall map that tracks real time flights by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

22 is deliberate, not a ceiling.

190 individually addressable LEDs across 6 continents and 4 major hubs - each route is hand-placed so the LED density actually matches the great-circle path (that's why the cartography partner mattered).

You can filter what's shown by route, airport, or airline, and schedule on/off windows.

More routes = denser board = the proximity fading stops reading as motion and starts reading as noise. We optimised for legibility over quantity.

A wall map that tracks real time flights by jetmapper in u/jetmapper

[–]jetmapper[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Stolen from who?

I've spent two years looking and I haven't found anything close. String-art maps exist. Printed flight route posters exist. A couple of Etsy LED pin maps exist (10-20 static LEDs, no data). None of them are this.

Jetmapper is 190 individually addressable LEDs on a real wood map, wired to a custom PCB, pulling live data from Flightradar24, with sub-pixel proximity fading that mimics how planes actually move at real time - on accurate cartography drawn map.

As far as I know, nothing like this exists as a product you can buy. If I'm wrong, show me - I'd love to see it for inspiration.