A Tern’s Perspective

The main tools used to produce the visualizations were ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Experience Builder and Cesium. Data provided in https://data.seabirdtracking.org/dataset/2438 for 2011/12 contained tracking data from 5 individual birds. For simplicity, the average value of each longitude and latitude of the birds' flight along the entire route was calculated and used on the map. For the static map, Arctic tern tracking point data from two datasets was transformed into line data and then automatically and manually generalised for the world view in ArcGIS Pro. The map was then brought into Affinity where design elements including a timeline were added. The same data as in the static map was used in timelapse. However, unlike the lines in the static map, dots were used. The whole process was built in ArcGIS ExperienceBuilder. Due to the time gap between the datasets, the map in timelapse was divided into two smaller maps. The final product is a website created showcasing the three visualisations. Built on Vite and CesiumJS, the animation tracks Arctic Tern migration by filtering GPS data through a 300 km distance threshold to isolate key waypoints from stationary clusters. We smoothed the flight trajectory using Great Circle arc interpolation, rendering a 3D tern model that follows a realistic curved path across the globe. For deployment, the app utilizes a PowerShell script to automate the delivery of production builds from the Vite environment to GitHub Pages.

We are proud of effectively visualizing the Arctic tern point migration data in three different ways - through a static flow map, point animation and Cesium animation. Our project shows that there isn’t one right way to visualise a dataset and is dependent on the user. Through our web app, users are able to switch between the three visualizations at their discretion. During our work, we learned a lot about Arctic terns and their migration. And also gained more knowledge about tools such as ArcGIS ExperienceBuilder, ArcGIS Dashboard and Cesium.

ArcGIS ExperienceBuilder was a complete new tool to use for visualisation. Despite this, we managed to configure it and successfully visualize the necessary data. We also learned about different generalisation techniques, creating custom basemaps and using Affinity to complete map design. We also learnt about the importance of setting up your data before visualization since we used multiple programs, there was a lot of switching back and forth between programs like ArcGIS Pro and Affinity when the data changed. Our team gained significant technical proficiency in integrating Cesium with various 3D data formats, specifically .glb and .json. A primary challenge, and a key learning milestone, involved fine-tuning the animation to strike a balance between high-fidelity smoothness and web-optimized performance. Vite proved to be an indispensable tool in this process, providing the rapid development environment necessary for such iterative performance tuning. Beyond the technical setup, this experience deepened our understanding of how to maintain a seamless user experience while managing heavy geospatial data in a browser.