Background

Map making or rather, cartography, is a field that has been dependent on visualization since before the common era. When tasked to curate a timeline for any theme in the history of visualization, I had a limited purview of what that meant. As I proceeded to research the earliest methods of visualization, the discoveries in cartography stood out the most. The shear ability trace so far back in time to see the evolution of visualization in cartography peaked my interest. As a result, I chose to dedicate my timeline to the history of map visualization by looking at the earliest forms of map creation, before common era (BCE), to the first known atlas in common era (CE).

Materials

To produce the timeline, I used a Google Spreadsheet template provided by the recommended tool for this project: Timeline JS. It’s an open-source tool used to generate interactive timelines.

Process

To get started, I watched Timeline JS’s video to get better understand the limitations and affordances of their spreadsheet to quickly enter and upload the data to generate my timeline. From there, I scanned the overarching timeline of events ranging as far back as 6200 BCE. As I reviewed more content, I decided to build a timeline to showcase the dawn of map visualization (BCE to 1375 CE) because, as a constant user of GPS, I found it interesting to see how it all began.

Upon reviewing the data points from “Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization”, I identified ten key moments that addressed foundational components of map visualization. These included the mapping routes, and using longitude and latitude amongst other elements such as calculating the circumference of the Earth.

Once I started to add inputs into the template, I also reviewed their technical documentation on the spreadsheet template to better understand how to input dates for BCE and additional columns not addressed by the video. For example, when a row has a title, it explains that no dates are required for the row. I also re-used the background color used in the template for the non-title slides to make it easier to read the text for users that are light-sensitive. I opted not to use the “era” type because it would cause the software to remove the slide and only show the title of the event in the timeline section.

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I also included the text “media credit” for the image sources to make it more distinguished from the image description.

Results

This timeline provided an interactive, streamlined experience on the evolution of map visualization from BCE to CE. I used these significant discoveries of visualization as the foundation of the evolution:

I liked how the arrows enabled the user to seamlessly move from one event to the next while also allowing the flexibility of scrolling through the dates below to allow the user multiple ways to explore the information.

I also liked how it offered flexibility of font to set the tone of the content for the viewer.

Reflection

It was interesting to see how the discoveries seemed to happen in bursts over the centuries. The exercise offered an interesting glimpse into the past and gave me some interesting insight into how these discoveries shaped the way we view the world.

I encountered several issues with the primary resource such as expired links and image sources. However, I resolved most data breaks by search for similar terms on wikipedia or google search for additional context. If I was unable to pull in an image, due to a 403 error, I screen captured the image and credited the primary resource. I also found that some of the discoveries had discrepancies in background. For example, the website fails to mention how Hipparchus was the first to attempt to use Longitude before Claudius Ptolemy.

After further testing, I discovered additional usability concerns around the timeline’s length since the dates of the timeline would extend much longer than the time stamps curated. This may be an inherent limitation of the tooling. There was also the concern around the data points from a regional focus perspective with much of the content centered around Middle East and Europe regions, which left out much of the historical context from Asian and African countries; creating a very skewed if not limited perspective of discoveries. If I had more time, I would have done further research on a more worldly perspective of map visualization discoveries versus the curated dates offered by my primary resource. I would also look into color-coded groupings for easier filtering by specific aspects of cartography such as city vs. global map innovations.

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References

1. Longitude. (2021). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Longitude&oldid=1024612162
2. Mercator projection | Definition, Uses, & Limitations. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/science/Mercator-projection
3. Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization. (n.d.). Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.datavis.ca/milestones/index.php?group=pre-1600
4. Team, T. M. (2020, March 19). Land Surveying—A Brief Guide | Definitions and Types of Land Surveys. Mcsteen.Com. https://mcsteen.com/a-brief-guide-to-land-surveying/
5. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. (2021). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theatrum_Orbis_Terrarum&oldid=1020929394
6. Utrilla, P., Mazo, C., Sopena, M. C., Martínez-Bea, M., & Domingo, R. (2009). A palaeolithic map from 13,660 calBP: Engraved stone blocks from the Late Magdalenian in Abauntz Cave (Navarra, Spain). Journal of Human Evolution, 57(2), 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.05.005