We have used our capacity for flight to change how our world works – our dependence on getting from nation to nation rapidly and affordably has created a mass market of air travel, made up of 30,000 daily flights across European airspace alone.

This visualisation shows the sheer scale and volume of our air travel across just one normal day in July – tracing the intricate patterns of invisible but precise infrastructure that criss-cross our skies. The creators designed it to demonstrate that flight is the ‘lifeblood of our island economy’ – the day sampled saw an incredible 5,675 flights arrive or depart UK airports.

The quality of the visualisation is remarkable - between the regimented patterns of commercial flights, look out for the odd amateur doing loops of local airports, or the military jets on manoeuvres above Anglesey.

By condensing a 24 hour period into a two minute animation, the infographic uses speed to its advantage – the rapidity of the data presentation helps to affirm that flight is indeed an integral part of our day-to-day international environment.