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Timeline of Major Trends and Events (Social, Technological, Economic & Political)

Timeline of Major Trends and Events (Social, Technological, Economic & Political)

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I found a unique and visually stunning infographic on FlickR today:
Timeline of Major Trends and Events (Social, Technological, Economic & Political)
timelines trend large
Peter von Stackelberg designed this complex timeline of social, technological, economic and political events and trends from 1750 to 2100. Each time series shows graphs, events and categories on a common scale. Peter says:

“The purpose of the timeline is to provide a visual tool for looking at events across a relatively long period of time and identify patterns and interrelationships involving a broad range of factors. Identification of patterns is particularly important when attempting to look at the future of complex social, technological, economic, and other systems.”

This graphic, and a number of others, can also be found on the Gallery of Data Visualization – Timelines site.  Also, thanks to Stephen Lark (author of IntegralDiagrams.info) for uploading a high-res photo to Zoomorama. For some other great links see the comment below.

9 Responses

  3. ivan

    Hi,
    what software was used for making these infographics – something specific or something common (i.e. OpenOffice Draw)?
    I use free program, named Calizo, for drawing timelines for myself, but it is specific fo timellines and has no ability to add graphics.

  5. ivan

    Thank you, Stephen! Evidently, I lost my attention and power of observation, while watching the diagram… 🙂

  8. Peter von Stackelberg

    I just ran across your comments on my timeline and thought I might point out that the original (the version you show here) was created in 1998 with Macromedia Freehand. The most recent version (done in 2008) was created using Adobe Illustrator. I am currently working on an updated version and am exploring different applications that will make the timeline more interactive.
    The concerns about information overload that have been noted by some users of the timeline is one that I have been trying to deal with since I did the very first version in 1994. It is a struggle to attempt to integrate the individual events and the broader patterns.
    The timeline is intended as a tool for reflection. I literally sit back and look at the overall picture and then move in closer to see the details of something that catches my interest. I am hoping to be able to replicate this kind of user experience with an online version of the newest edition of the timeline.

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