Featured Map for 31 March 2017:
Delta Air Lines A330s, From The Top

Yesterday's Featured Map depicted Delta's Airbus A330 flying for late March. One Great Circle Mapper fan suggested that an orthographic projection centered on Atlanta would show this network better than the rectangular projection which was used, and that green was better than magenta for the routes flown by both the A300-200 and A330-300.

Creating good maps often involves some art. In this case, both suggestions had been considered but rejected. The orthographic projection was spurned because it places the three Asian destinations on the "back" of the map, or with a center that's more friendly for those destinations the South American destinations are hidden. A more-distinct color for the dual-model routes looked awful on the rectangular map.

Today's Featured Map recasts yesterday's map of Delta's late-March A330 schedule using an orthographic projection centered on Detroit, chosen over Atlanta since Detroit is the hub for Delta's more-diverse A330-200 flying. (Another map to be posted in the next few days will reveal more about polar-aspect versus oblique-aspect orthographic maps.) It also changes the routes flown with both the A330-200 and A330-300 to green, which works better when not clumped so tightly with other routes. The hidden Asian destinations are addressed by adding labels at the midpoint for the two routes from Detroit; the route from Seattle to Hong Kong has its label placed at the closest point to Anchorage.

Which version do you think works better?

References and additional information:

• Delta Air Lines
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Air France
• Delta Airlines Fleet – Planespotters.net
• Delta Airlines Fleet - Airbus A330 - Active – Planespotters.net
• Featured Map: Delta Air Lines A330s (30 March 2017)