

The Weather Bracelet ... and More

In another unique way of transforming an aspect of reality into 3D objects, fabricator, Flickr user mtchl has prepared an unusual bracelet, formed from the weather in Canberra, Australia.

The circumference of the bracelet represents the 365 days of the year in question (July of 2008 through end of June 2009), and the outer edge is proportional to the daily minimum and maximum temperatures. Holes in the bracelet represent the amount of weekly rainfall.

The object was printed at the Shapeways 3D print service, but it doesn't seem to be available for purchase. However, you'd probably want the temperature profile for your home town instead.

But this leads to an interesting idea: how could you get that done? Would you create your own model using the raw data? Unlikely, as it's probably beyond most people's capabilities. We think this approach of mapping data into object shapes is increasing in frequency, and there should be a way to bring that capability to general consumers.

Could there be room in the market for a service that dynamically computes such models based on various data? Could Shapeways or Ponoko develop a "dynamic" 3D model service that changes shape based user selected data? Imagine if you could select the "Weather Bracelet" and then specify you want the "Bogota, Colombia 1963" version. The possibilities are, like data, endless.

Via Flickr

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