Dynamic three-dimensional display of U.S. air traffic

We describe methods developed to interpolate and project flight paths of aircraft in controlled airspace over the continental United States from aperiodic position reports. There are a number of unusual features of the dynamic displays we have developed. Our visualizations can be viewed from either a fixed or moving viewpoint. The direction and distance of the focal point from the viewing point is under program control (allowing viewing in a direction other than the direction of motion of the viewpoint). The maximum and minimum depth of field is under program control (allowing viewing of selected local subsets of the data).