
Show HN: I made explorable +38M flights in a 3D visualization - simoelalj
Hi HN,<p>Since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated by the flight display screens at the airport wondering where I can fly direct if I had an open ticket<p>There are more than 38 million commercial flights per year departing from +3,200 airports and served by +580 airlines! So much data that can be summarized and made accessible to everyone in an easy and convenient interface.<p>Today, I’m releasing Direct flights, a tool to explore all non-stop flights from any airport:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;direct-flights.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;direct-flights.com&#x2F;</a><p><i># How it&#x27;s made?</i><p>The frontend is built on React - using a server-side rendering on NodeJS for SEO purposes. The backend is built in Python. The map is rendered with HTML5 Canvas (TopoJSON map with d3-geo) while interactions with the zoom are managed with SVG (with d3-geo-zoom).<p><i># Geeky and unique features</i><p>• <i>Dynamic social preview card:</i> When you share a link on social media, it automatically generates a thumbnail by taking a screenshot (using headless chrome) of the visualization with live data.<p>• <i>Showing flight routes on a 3D globe:</i> Representing the earth as a 3D globe made more sense to visualize realistic flight routes instead of a distorted flat map (where you wonder why the pilot is taking a &quot;long route” over the North Pole to cross the Atlantic...).<p>• <i>Select the closest airport to your cursor:</i> It&#x27;s very hard to nail the right airport on a map when there’s a cluster of items (especially for multi-airports areas like SF Bay Area). Direct Flights computes a Voronoi diagram to have larger clickable areas.<p><i># Business model</i><p>Direct Flights can be integrated as a B2B white label solution for airlines and airports so that passengers can discover new destinations in a more visual manner (Would love to discuss with anyone connected in this ecosystem). Moreover, there&#x27;s a B2C aspect, where we get an affiliate commission for ticket sales through kiwi.com<p>I look forward to reading your comments and questions!
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