Thursday, March 15, 2007

Timelines

Here are some ways in which timelines are being used in the web:

  • TimeSearch
  • GoogleEarth timeline
  • HyperHistory
  • SIMILE timeline from MIT
    • Provides a Javascript API to create a complex panning timeline.
    • Events are uploaded in XML format which defines for each event
      • start title end? isDuration? latestStart? earliestEnd? image? link? and body
    • Cant locate schema for the event stream
    • Event date format is not xs:date
    • body must be a string i.e. with < not <
    • Set the mime type to application/xml
    • example XML timeline
I've implemented the SIMILE timeline in my Family History. Here is an example
Links to other people load their timelines (although some are incomplete and not working).

Multiple event streams can be displayed in multiple bands - e.g. here are the lives of two family members

It would be great to get a subset of world history events from TimeSearch to include as a separate band.

To do:
  • Convert xs:date to Timeline format
  • Handle photos with missing dates
  • Focus timeline when no date of birth

No comments: