ancestors-location-animation

This is a Processing (processing.org) sketch that creates an animated data visualization of how my ancestors migrated over time on a map. It uses a CSV that I exported from MyHeritage and it makes use of the library Unfolding Maps by Till Nagel.

You can watch a video of the animation here: https://youtu.be/tT4xw3nO1Yg

For more details about the process have a look here: https://yannickbrouwer.medium.com/visualizing-my-ancestry-on-a-map-7af6a2354db0

Getting started

1. Download the latest version of Processing 3 from https://processing.org/ and install it.
2. Download my code, you can fork it but can also click the green 'Code' button and then choose Download ZIP.
3. Unzip Unfolding.zip, it's the mapping library I used. Make sure you use the 0.9.9beta version I supplied here on Github, it's the beta which works with Processing 3. Others from the official Unfolding Maps site or the one found through the Processing library manager will not work.
4. Place the unzipped folder 'Unfolding' in the 'libraries' folder of Processing. You can find the folder by opening Processing and going to File->Preferences. Open the path you find under 'Sketchbook location' in Windows Explorer or Finder and browse to the folder 'libraries' within that folder. If the folder is not there you can create it (use all lowercase). Paste the Unfolding folder within the folder 'libraries' (without the apostrophes).
5. Restart Processing and go to Sketch->Import library. Unfolding Maps should be underneath Contributed.
6. Open my sketch ancestor_map_animation_final.pde. Click on the play icon to run the code. You should see the basemap with dots on it moving randomly.
7. It's time to enter your own data, have a look at the Medium article above and the file ancestors_randomized.csv in the data folder to see how it should be structured.
8. You can edit the data in Google Sheets. You can use the free plug-in Geocode by Awesome Tables (https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/geocode_by_awesome_table/904124517349) in Google Sheets to convert city names to latitude and longitude. Replace the file ancestors_randomized.csv in the data folder with your own csv to see how it runs as animation. (keep a copy of the original file as reference)
9. Check the comments in my code to see how you can change the keyframes of the animation.
10. If you're happy with your animation it's time to export your movie. Change the line 'boolean recording = false;' to 'boolean recording = true;' and run the code in presentation mode (Sketch->Present).
11. The animation will run very slowly (can take minutes or even hours to finish) and save every frame as a png within the folder from which you ran the code.
12. If this process is finished, you can use the Movie Maker tool in Processing (Tools-Movie Maker) or video editting software like Adobe Premiere Pro to stitch the images into a movie.
13. I would love to see your end results! Send me a message if you made something cool. (https://yannickbrouwer.nl/about/)