This was fun to figure out. I had the idea for this project after seeing a graphic estimating peak fall colors.
However, there was no methodology to it.
So I wondered if there was a way to accurately measure the colors. What data was out there? Well, photos. From traffic cams and similar services. Last winter, I sought and gained access to webcams in a couple state parks in Connecticut. I wrote a script that scraped each one but was at a loss at how to extract the exact color gradient for each photo programatically.
Many months later right before this fall, I came back to it and applied some new packages I learned how to use in that time period. I worked with my colleague to come up with an innovative way to show the foliage transition.
But I still wasn’t done.
Connecticut’s leaf-changing season visualized
I wanted to simplify. So I programmed an R script that sliced up the photos and put them back together in chronological order.
And I kept going.
I wrote a script that turned it into an animation.
I’m working on cleaing up documentation so I can share the code I created with everyone.