ChronoZoom is a free open source project that visualizes

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

on the broadest possible scale from the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

to the

present The present is the period of time that is occurring now. The present is contrasted with the past, the period of time that has already occurred; and the future, the period of time that has yet to occur. It is sometimes represented as a hyperplan ...

day. Conceived by Walter Alvarez and Roland Saekow and developed by the department of Earth and Planetary Science at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in collaboration with

Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...

and

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

, Alvarez unveiled the first ChronoZoom prototype at UC Berkeley's 2010 Faculty Research Lecture. Although that demo is no longer available to the public online, a second version rewritten in

HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...

is now available and open source. ChronoZoom was inspired by the study of

Big History Big History is an academic discipline that examines history from the Big Bang to the present day, present. Big History resists specialization and searches for universal patterns or trends. It examines long time frames using a multidisciplinar ...

, and it approaches the documentation and visualization of time and history in the same way that

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

deals with

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

. ChronoZoom allows users to see the true scale of time over cosmic, geologic, biological and social periods.

Purpose

The primary goal of ChronoZoom is to make time relationships between different studies of history clear and vivid. In the process, it provides a framework for exploring related electronic resources. It thus serves as a "master timeline" tying together all kinds of specialized timelines and electronic resources, and aspires to bridge the gap between the humanities and the sciences and to bring together and unify all knowledge of the past. ChronoZoom is planned as an educational tool as well as a research tool, by allowing researchers to plot various time series data next to each other for comparison.

Versions

The 1.0 proof of concept was released on April 29, 2010 at the 97th Annual Faculty Research Lecture Series given by Alvarez. A 2.0 beta was released on March 14, 2012, completely rewritten in

and available as open source via the Outercurve Foundation. Work continued through 2014 supported by Microsoft Research (Redmond). The work continues as of 2015 supported by Axiell (Sweden), Fontys University (

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

), and the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

. The project code is freely accessible on

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

.ChronoZoom on Github
/ref>

Awards

* 2013 SXSW Interactive Awards Winner (Educational Resource) * 2012 Digital Education Achievement Award Winner (University Project)

References

External links

ChronoZoom HTML5

ChronoZoom at the Outercurve FoundationMicrosoft Research Summit 2010: Visualizing a Universe of Data
ChronoZoom: travel through time for education, exploration, and information technology research {{Microsoft FOSS History websites of the United States 2010 software Microsoft free software Software using the Apache license Timeline software

Purpose

Versions

Awards

See also

References

External links