This is an incredible visualization of the world's shipping routes

This is an incredible visualization of the world's shipping routes

Updated by Brad Plumer on April 25, 2016

http://www.vox.com/2016/4/25/11503152/shipping-routes-map

About 11 billion tons of stuff gets carried around the world every year by large ships. Clothes, flat-screen TVs, grain, cars, oil — transporting these goods from port to port is what makes the global economy go 'round.
And now there's a great way to visualize this entire process, through this stunning interactive map from the UCL Energy Institute:
You can use the toggles at the top of the map to break down the ships by type — container ships (yellow), dry bulk carriers (blue), oil and fuel tankers (red), gas carriers (green), and ships transporting vehicles (purple) — or zoom in on different regions.
The researchers assembled data from the thousands of commercial ships that moved across the ocean in 2012. They then worked with the data visualization studio Kiln to make this map. Here are a few neat highlights from playing around with the thing: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/25/11503152/shipping-routes-map