"Quando il cielo si è fermato"

Description

Description

This data journalism article, created under the editorial supervision of Il Sole 24 Ore, explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry.

Client

Il Sole 24 Ore

Year

2020

Type

Data Journalism

CONTEXT

QUANDO IL CIELO SI È FERMATO is the title of the article published in the Sole 24 Ore Lab, discussing the impact of the acute respiratory disease COVID-19 on the world of air transport.

The narrative structure retraces the path traced by the virus, starting from China, reaching Italy, and then expanding to Europe and the rest of the world.

The project analyzes the economic consequences, observing the performance of the financial markets in relation to the air transport sector.

DESIGN PROCESS

The article opens with an introductory video, presenting a chronological overview of significant events between December 2019 and May 2020. The user experience follows a linear structure, comprising a descriptive section (white background) and a data-focused section (black background).

Data collection involved collaboration with various companies providing Flight Tracking services online, notably:

  • Airnav RadarBox: Tracking the number of daily flights in different countries

  • Assaeroporti: Monitoring the monthly flight statistics at Italian airports



The collected data covers different categories:

  • Daily flights in different countries

  • Daily flights per airport

  • Stock market performance of major airlines (Investing.com)

  • Changes in oil prices (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

  • Reduction in carbon dioxide emissions related to air traffic

The collected data were made visible by adopting two different languages.

The first, certainly more ordinary, consists of the use of line graphs. The second, instead, was realised through the integration of a Javascript code based on the movement of walkers (airplanes) describing hyperbolic trajectories around a circle (visual metaphor of the analysed country/airport).

This approach effectively communicates the disparity in air traffic between the initial months of 2020 and the same period in 2019.

Article link


class OrbitalPoint {
    constructor(centerPosition, distanceFromCenter, initialAngle, angleVelocity) {
        this.isVisible = true;
        this.centerPosition = centerPosition;
        this.distanceFromCenter = distanceFromCenter;
        this.angle = initialAngle;
        this.angleVelocity = angleVelocity;
        this.currentPosition = createVector();
        this.previousPosition = createVector();
        this.updatePosition();
        this.previousPosition.set(this.currentPosition);
        this.childPointArray = new SpriteArray();
    }
    step() {
        this.angle += this.angleVelocity;
        this.updatePosition();
        this.childPointArray.step();
    }
    draw() {
        if (this.isVisible) {
            line(this.previousPosition.x, this.previousPosition.y, this.currentPosition.x, this.currentPosition.y);
        }
        this.childPointArray.draw();
    }
    addChild(depth) {
        if (depth <= 0)
            return;
        const distanceFromCenter = random(60, 60) * unitLength; //gestico la distanza dal centro
        const initialAngle = random(TWO_PI);
        const angleVelocity = randomSign(random(0.1, 0.3)) * UNIT_ANGLE_VELOCITY; //gestisco velocità e traiettoria
        const newPoint = new OrbitalPoint(this.currentPosition, distanceFromCenter, initialAngle, angleVelocity);
        if (depth > 1)
            newPoint.isVisible = false;
        newPoint.addChild(depth - 1);
        this.childPointArray.push(newPoint);
    }
    updatePosition() {
        this.previousPosition.set(this.currentPosition);
        this.currentPosition.set(this.centerPosition.x + this.distanceFromCenter * cos(this.angle), this.centerPosition.y + this.distanceFromCenter * sin(this.angle));
    }
}


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