Yesterday Clive Thompson’s Linkfest linked to this page on a website called Beautiful Public Data, and I lost a couple hours of my day. Jon Keegan does amazing work with, well, public data.

My gateway drug was a piece called Visualizing Ship Movements with AIS Data. Not the pithiest title but look at this:

That’s Maine, over time. Just a stunning use of data to make art. And there’s so much more than pretty data. The post is full of fascinating things about shipping and the global tracking system including a Bloomberg documentary about Russian ships that literally travel under-the-radar.

And that’s only the start. That website is full of gems. A few favourites:

Visualizing Rivers and Floodplains with USGS Data – it’s visually similar to the piece above – these things would look incredible at large size, hanging on a wall somewhere

Nuclear Weapon Test Films – no explanation needed

The Naughty Words the FAA Removed From the Sky – come for the juvenile waypoint names (including NUTZZ, PROZC, and MYMOM), and stay for the political themed drama

He’s also got a book list for nerds like me. (I’ve read Atlas of AI, but not the others. Excellent.)

All this led me finally to Keegan’s personal site with links to pieces he does for other outlets, mostly Sherwood News. A recent piece about the Threads algorithm feeding old posts in the For You feed was fascinating, and another on corporate surveillance tactics made me glad to be self-employed.

You can follow Jon Keegan himself or Beautiful Public Data on Instagram. Each site has other follow options as well.

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