Earth Garden turns an interactive globe into a map of environmental sound
The project uses Freesound recordings to let users move between natural and urban soundscapes, with automatic rotation and ambient drones.
Earth Garden is an interactive globe that lets users explore environmental field recordings associated with locations around the world.
Inspired by Radio Garden, the project replaces radio stations with sounds such as waves near Atlantic islands, crickets in Tanzania and rainfall on the streets of Manhattan. The recordings are sourced from Freesound.
Users can set the globe to rotate automatically. As its reticle approaches different points, playback transitions to recordings linked to those locations, creating a continuous journey between soundscapes.
The experience is designed for both active listening and background use, including work or sleep. An optional soundtrack of generic ambient drones can also be added.
The Verge noted that recording quality and volume vary between clips. Coverage is uneven, with recordings more concentrated in the United States and Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, rather than being evenly distributed worldwide.
