About
Interesting Day
Interesting Day turns data into art, by Rob Silliman. Every dataset is a record of something that happened: a storm coming ashore, a tide turning, a pelican flying to Cuba. Drawn with care, the record becomes something you want to look at, and then something you understand. Maps are the first medium. The numbers are always real.
What I make
Pieces you watch, and pieces you use
Data films
Short pieces, under a minute, for Instagram, Reels and Shorts. Each one is built from public data and checked number by number against it.
Interactive pieces
Work you can drag, zoom and click, like the shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Coming to this site soon.
Your day, anywhere
Later: pick a place on earth and get its day, the tide, the wind and the sky, drawn the same way.
How it's made
Public data, my own code
Every map starts with public scientific data: NOAA, USGS, the National Hurricane Center, and researchers who publish their animal tracking openly. I turn the numbers into moving pictures with my own code. The terrain is real elevation and seafloor data, lit from the northwest so ridges and channels stand out. Where something is a model or an estimate, the map says so on screen.
Where the data comes from
Built on public science
None of these maps would exist without the scientists, engineers and field crews at NOAA, USGS, the National Hurricane Center, the Coast Guard, and the research teams who tag animals and then share what they learn with everyone.
About the data
What you're looking at
- Lit contours
- Lines of equal height or depth, shaded as if lit from the northwest, so ridges, channels and shoals stand out. The method is called Tanaka contours, after the cartographer who invented it in 1950.
- Wind swirls
- A model, not a measurement: the wind around a storm drawn from its recorded top speed and, since 2004, its measured size.
- AIS
- The Automatic Identification System. Ships broadcast their position, speed and type; larger vessels must, many small boats don't.
- Predicted tide
- What the tide should do from astronomy alone. The difference between predicted and real water is mostly wind and storm surge.
- Overlaid years
- When a dataset spans decades, some maps lay every year onto one calendar to show a typical year. Those maps say so on screen.
Who's behind it
Rob Silliman
I'm Rob Silliman. I live in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, on the stretch of coast most of these maps start from.
Everything here is built from real data with careful sourcing. If a number is on the screen, you can trace it to where it came from.
Questions
FAQ
How do you make these?
Each piece starts with a public scientific dataset: NOAA, USGS, the National Hurricane Center, ocean and bird tracking studies. I turn the numbers into moving pictures with my own code. There's no off-the-shelf app behind them; every piece is built for its subject.
Is the data real?
Yes. Every clip names its sources on screen and on its page here. Positions, wind speeds, river flows and tide levels are the recorded numbers. Where something is a model or an estimate, the clip says so.
Can I see the data myself?
Most of it is free to the public. Each clip's page links to where it came from.
Why "Interesting Day"?
Because data is a record of days: the morning a storm came ashore, July 4 on the river, the day a pelican reached Cuba. Made into art, an ordinary record becomes an interesting day. And because we hope you have one.
Can you make one of my town, my boat, my storm?
Ask. If there's public data for it, probably.
Can I share these?
Yes, please share the posts. If you want to use a clip somewhere else, ask first.
Did you use AI?
I use a mix of tools, and AI helps me write the code. The pictures are not AI-generated. No image generator is involved and nothing is made up: the code draws every line and dot straight from the data. The data, the choices about what to show and the checking are mine. Every number traces back to a public source.