Google TimeMap

Posted on January 30, 02009
Filed Under Inspiration, Journal, Timelines | Leave a Comment

Nick Rabinowitz, a Grad student at UC Berkeley School of Information, posted an interesting announcement on the Google Geo Developer blog this morning. Google TimeMap is a Javascript API for working with geo-temporal data. It combines Google Maps with the excellent SIMILE Timeline and wraps them into a single API. The library supports both JSON and KML data.

The example above shows the lifespans and geographical locations of major figures of the Renaissance. Click through the image to see it in action.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

Posted on January 27, 02009
Filed Under Inspiration | 1 Comment

"The Garden of Earthly Delights" (sometimes called "The Millennium") is probably the most famous work by the 15th century painter Hieronymus Bosch. The content of the triptych is open to interpretation but the three panels are generally agreed to follow a temporal progression. Given that the two side panels depict the beginning and the end of time it could be considered a timeline - it's definitely an early example of sequential art. To find more clues I would need to examine the content of those panels up close.

This paining is just one of many great works of art that hang in Madrid's Prado museum. A few years ago, if I wanted to examine it in detail, I had two options: I could purchase a print and hope the reproduction was relatively faithful. Or I could get on a plane and fly to Madrid. There is now a third option. More and more art is being imaged at extremely high resolutions; you may remember I covered Lumiere Technology's high resolution multi-spectral analysis of classic artwork. This imagery can now be viewed using innovative zooming interfaces by anyone with a web browser.

Google recently embarked on a partnership with The Prado to scan much of their collection (including the "Garden of Earthly Delights") and these can now be viewed through a custom layer in Google Earth. The video below shows how the high resolution photography was achieved.

Creating high resolution imagery of the art of The Prado Museum.

The Equation of Time podcast III

Posted on January 26, 02009
Filed Under Flash, Journal, Kepler | 2 Comments

Following on from yesterday's podcast for 365 Days of Astronomy I'd like to offer up a little visual aid to accompany it. If you haven't yet heard the talk, it's quite short and you can listen to it here.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The interactive infographic below attempts to show how the equation of time varies over the course of the solar year. Once loaded just drag the Earth icon along the year bar at the bottom and you'll see where the earth is along it's orbit vs the equation of time for that moment.

If you are unfamiliar with astronomical terminology then let me quickly explain the markings along the orbit. The equinoxes mark the points in the orbit where the day and night are of equal length. Diametrically opposite these are the the solstices. Perihelion and Aphelion mark the earth's closest approach to the sun and it's furthest away.

The Equation of Time podcast II

Posted on January 21, 02009
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This Sunday sees the broadcast of my short piece for the IYA's 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. If you've arrived over here, from over there, then come on in and put your feet up. It's nice to meet you.

The 365 Days of Astronomy speaker schedule
I've been very much enjoying the speakers so far and have been extremely impressed by the quality of the talks. Despite being a long time web developer this was my first podcast and I really enjoyed the creative process. If I'd known however back in November (when I originally offered to speak) that I'd be amongst such esteemed company I'd be a nervous wreck by now!

One name I was particularly pleased to see on the schedule was astronomical historian Allan Chapman. I saw him speak at the RGO (about the history of calendar systems) a few years ago and he's an extremely knowledgeable and engaging speaker. If you ever have a chance I would urge you to go see him.

Thoughts on the medium
One of the things I found interesting about recording a podcast was just how different it was from working with other web media. As a Flash Developer I'm used to communicating ideas through animation and interactivity. Audio podcasting is a completely different animal. This is a medium where ideas can only be communicated through performance and emotion. It's ideally suited to the telling of stories. Less so I think, to the explanation of complex or technical concepts.

I chose the Equation of Time as my topic because it's the bridge between the astronomical time of the heavens and the algorithmic time of much of modern timekeeping. The concepts I tried to communicate are quite densely layered so with my user experience hat on, I think it would benefit from a few visuals. Between now and Sunday I'm going to try and put together an interactive infographic to go along with the broadcast.

Calculus and the Archimedes Palimpsest

Posted on January 19, 02009
Filed Under Flash, Inspiration, Journal | Leave a Comment

Archimedes Palimpsest

image copyright of the owner of the Archimedes Palimpsest

Calculus is the temporal branch of mathematics. It studies how properties and functions change over time and it has applications in every analytical discipline. In Actionscript it crops up in all the tweening functions and all the 3D engines, where matrix calculus is used to perform transforms in 3D space.

Until recently the credit for the invention of Calculus was a hotly debated subject for mathematical historians. Both Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed similar theories around the late 17th century and there is much debate over who got there first. According to recent research however they could have been beaten to the principles by around 2000 years.

In the digital age it is hard to imagine taking an old book, scraping off all it's text, then writing over it again - but that is what a palimpsest is. In the 13th century a monk, needing parchment for a new prayer book, set about reworking an old book for the purpose. The book he reworked contained copies of works by the 3rd century BC engineer and mathematician, Archimedes of Syracuse.

The contents of one of the works, entitled 'The Method', was unknown to scholars until recent multi-spectral analysis revealed it's contents. Images from the palimpsest and more about the project can be found at http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org/

via Long Now

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