3D Migration Globe

The team at NeoPangea wanted to do something extraordinary to help National Geographic Channel inform the masses how and why migrating animals move.  So we asked our resident Alien if it could stop probing the intern for a minute and tell us how they would do it. The answer was “Bleep-bleep... probe- probe…Observe from orbit” We didn't understand so we traded his technology for a copy of Full House — season 3 on Blue Ray.

The answer comes in the form of a 3D Migration Globe. This Flash interactive allows users to explore the migratory patterns of twelve different animals from space. When a land or sea dwelling animal is selected the user flies into its global position and the animal's current migration path and location is revealed as fluid, arching streams of light. Details about the creature and its travels are also provided to make you feel brainy.

The interactive itself was produced using a variety of 2D and 3D tools and techniques, including Papervision 3D for the globe and environment, the Flint particle system for tracking the animal data, and a trunk-full of custom-built effects. By placing a small, unobtrusive 2 meter tracking harpoon into each animals' most accessible orifice (as determined by our rather sore intern), NeoPangea has been able to obtain the geo-position information of a number of animals as they participated in their migratory patterns. This information is then fed into our NeoPangea Effects Supercomputer (NES) punch-card by punch-card to generate the beams of light seen in the map. So when you see a herd of animals streak across the ground, think of what those poor butterflies had to go through to make you smarter. Happy now?