This chart records my movements over Thanksgiving break, in Nov. 2004: a train ride away from Providence along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, three days in Maryland, broken by a few short trips, and a long train ride back to Rhode Island. Time moves clockwise along the chart, progressing by 72° a day for total of five days. The chart expresses distance from Providence as distance from the center.

The changing slopes of the line show that Amtrak’s services run markedly slower around New York and New Jersey. A more conventional chart recording my track on a two-dimensional plane, and indicating time through color, line weight, or typography, might more precisely indicate the path that I took. But this radial form of visualization emphasizes the social aspects of my trip, the contrast between periods of movement and inactivity, and the distance from home, wherever home might be.