Interactive Historical Atlas of the World

[alcibaides]

This is pretty awesome.

What sort of javascript framework do you use for this?

I am using the Google Earth API with javascript.

Are you pulling in the data from KML or KMZ files? If so, how?

The data is stored in KML and is "pulled in" using the Google Earth API.

 

[warpus]

I am using the Google Earth API with javascript.

...

The data is stored in KML and is "pulled in" using the Google Earth API.

That's it, eh.. I have been playing with some jquery based google map frameworks for a vacation slideshow & map type of webpage for some of the trips I've been on.. Some sort of a way to document all the hikes, flights, boat rides, etc. so I can go through it again in 10 years and get a better context for all the photos.. as well as making it easy to show someone what my trip was like.

Anyway, I've been playing with a bunch of random stuff, even making videos.. and I did plot the entire trip in one big KML file. There's placemarks, paths, etc.. A lot of stuff I could just import with the google maps api right into an awesome 3d tour of the trip! That makes me very happy. Thank you!

Your website is very nice, but I think you might have a problem getting content. It will slowly come, but.. I wonder if there's any way to "trick" people to submit content quicker, or maybe give them incentives somehow.. or convert content from other sources.

 

[velosepappe]

I have made some contributions on Belgium, adapting borders and such. I wonder is there any way to delete existing nodes, now it seems that you can only create nodes forcing you to make the bordes more complex than you'd like them to be.

BTW can anybody affirm the validity of this website: http://home.versatel.nl/gerardvonhebel/index.htm#homeknop
It claims to be a historical atlas of europe, might be interesting.

 

[alcibaides]

I wonder is there any way to delete existing nodes, now it seems that you can only create nodes forcing you to make the bordes more complex than you'd like them to be.

Great contributions Velosepappe! As a matter of fact you can delete existing nodes, just double-click on them with the mouse.

When I have a chance I will make a fourth video tutorial to cover advanced editing to explain stuff like deleting existing nodes as that is very important.

 

[alcibaides]

A suggestion I have is able to upload different pictures for cities (or other locations) depending on the time period.

JtheJackal, thanks again for your input. I am been thinking about this idea some more and have discussed it with friends.

I have come to the conclusion that it would be a really neat feature and if I put it on the "edit feature" menu instead of on the "create new feature menu", it will give more advanced users a really simple way of doing it without discouraging first time contributors by making the "create new feature" menu too complex.

So I have now modified the code of the edit photo features menu to include your suggestion. Now when you go to edit an existing feature, there are two ways you can submit your changes:

1) Submit changes for the entire time period of this feature

2) Submit changes for just the time period I have specified

The first option would simply replace the existing photo with the new uploaded photo, but the second option would only replace the existing photo for the specific time period you specify. Obviously this option is only available for photo features that have a time span such as cities, monuments, etc. It is not available for "event" type photo features like battles.

Thanks again for the feedback and any other feedback is encouraged. I am going to continue to work on improving the site more and more as time goes on.

 

[alcibaides]

Hey all, here's an update on my interactive historical atlas website:

-I have added in the boundaries of a lot more nations, such as virtually the entire history of China, the European Colonial Empires (Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, & Dutch), and a lot of the Empires of the Middle East.

-There are now a total of 5 video tutorials on youtube to show people how to do stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/chronoatlas

-I have added an "About" page that gives a quick introduction to the project.

So come on by and check out the progress, the map is beginning to fill up now.

Also I noticed that a number of people from this forum had joined the site a while back and started to contribute some stuff but then they stopped coming back (velosepappe, dragodon64, and Linkman226). I was wondering if anybody got stuck on anything, i.e. did you have any trouble getting something to work? Or did you find that there was a part of the interface that was not easy to understand or not user-friendly? These are all things that I want to continously work on improving so any feedback would be great

 

[Tee Kay]

Jolly good. I did join the site a while ago, but I had some trouble editing the country's descriptions. Is it possible to add a more detailed description when you click on a country; for example, instead of "Part of China" can you have "People's Republic of China (from 1949)" or even a short history of the country or major events for that particular year?

 

[alcibaides]

Jolly good. I did join the site a while ago, but I had some trouble editing the country's descriptions. Is it possible to add a more detailed description when you click on a country; for example, instead of "Part of China" can you have "People's Republic of China (from 1949)" or even a short history of the country or major events for that particular year?

Good suggestion. If you just want to change the name then you could do that currently. Simply click on the boundary and choose "edit", then under the input box for the civilization name, change it from "China" to "People's Republic of China", then under the start date box, change the date to 1949, and then click on the button that says "Modify this boundary for just the time period I have specified".

As far as adding a short description, I agree that it might be a nice feature, I have been thinking of allowing people to add images and descriptions for nations in the same way that you can currently do so for cities and stuff. For example, for the nations you could upload a picture of the flag of China which would appear in the balloon when you click on China. It is definitely something that is on my "to-do" list. But these things take time as I am just working on this project in my spare time. This feature will be coming to ChronoAtlas soon so watch this space.

 

[Civciv5]

I try to add the "Joseon Dynasty" and the "Khmer Empire",but when i press "save" and then "save all drawings" it doesn't work! All my work is NOT saved!
Oh,wait!I have to wait a week?

 

[alcibaides]

I try to add the "Joseon Dynasty" and the "Khmer Empire",but when i press "save" and then "save all drawings" it doesn't work! All my work is NOT saved!
Oh,wait!I have to wait a week?

Hey Civciv5, you drawings were saved fine. You don't have to wait a week. I will approve them all now. The message saying that the Admin will approve your drawings "within a week" is just to cover myself in times when I am on vacation or do not have time to look at it. Usually you will get any submitals you make approved within a day.

I am looking at your submitals, I see you submitted a boundary for Josean Dynasty in the same place and with the same dates a number of times, so I am just going to approve one of them. The other nations you submitted I am also approving except Anuradhapura Kingdom, because that one is already on the map anyway.

 

[Civciv5]

The other nations you submitted I am also approving except Anuradhapura Kingdom

I didn't know I maked an "Anuradhapura Kingdom"?
How do you expand boundaries in time?
Example:The Khmer Empire was not the same size in 1120 AD as in 863 AD.
Can I expand/reduce the territory as the time goes forward?
This is a very interesting project.

 

[alcibaides]

I didn't know I maked an "Anuradhapura Kingdom"?
How do you expand boundaries in time?
Example:The Khmer Empire was not the same size in 1120 AD as in 863 AD.
Can I expand/reduce the territory as the time goes forward?
This is a very interesting project.

Yes you can, but you have to submit seperate boundaries for each period. And the end date of the first period should be the same year as the start date of the next period.

You do not need to draw the entire boundary again, simply edit the boundary for the first phase, make the territorial changes, choose the new dates, and choose "Submit this boundary as a new seperate boundary". You can access your boundaries that you have drawn but have not yet been approved from the Contribute page->"Make New Boundaries from Existing Boundaries". Then there is a drop-down box of your boundaries that are awaiting approval. So you can modify those and then submit them as new boundaries for a different time period. Does that make sense?

I am going to make a video tutorial that explains how to do this exact thing today. So later I will post it on youtube and post a link to it here.

 

[alcibaides]

How do you expand boundaries in time?
Example:The Khmer Empire was not the same size in 1120 AD as in 863 AD.
Can I expand/reduce the territory as the time goes forward?

Here is the video that explains it:


Link to video.

 

[alcibaides]

Civciv5,

Thanks for all your contributions, I noticed a couple of minor issues about the boundaries you have been submitting so far:

1) Be careful with overlapping boundaries, you submitted a boundary for the Champa Kingdom in Vietnam for the period of 192 AD to 1882 AD. I was a little skeptical that a nation's boundary could remain unchanged for such a long period of time but I accepted it anyway. Then later on you submitted a boundary for the Khmer Empire in the 13th Century AD that almost completely overlaps with the boundary that you had submitted for the Champa Kingdom. So at some point somebody will need to edit one of those boundaries so that they do not overlap.

I suppose that overlapping boundaries are ok in circumstances where the exact border between two nations is not precisely known. But they should be avoided in all other circumstances.

2) The orange color that you chose for Silla in Korea is too close to the color of the nearby Tang Dynsaty of China. So I am going to change the color of Silla to something that makes it stand out more.

Anyway thanks again and I hope you continue to enjoy ChronoAtlas.

 

[Masada]

... Southeast Asia is erg.

 

[Tee Kay]

Well, at least there's no Nederlands Oost-Indie in the 17th century.

 

[Masada]

Nederlands Oost-Indies

Super Srivijaya is luls.

 

[Agent327]

Actually, Dutch East India/Indies translates to Nederlands Oost-Indie (singular, there is no plural). No need to hypercorrect.

 

[7ronin]

This is wonderful! Absolutely fantastic. Great job.

 

[alcibaides]

The latest update to this project is that I have made the Main Map viewer and the "Area of Interest" Viewer compatible with Google Maps.

So now, when a user does not have the Google Earth plug-in installed on their computer, they will automatically get redirected to a page on the site that uses "Google Maps" instead. This means that if you create an "Areas of Interest" and you want to send it to your friends, they do not need to have Google Earth in order to view it.

I did this because I was noticing that a lot of people appeared to be finding the site, seeing that it required Google Earth and then not bothering to download and install it so they were never even seeing the site. Also, it could be that some people are viewing the site from work where they may not have the ability to install plug-ins.

So hopefully this will give maximum access to the site.

Here is the Google Map viewer on the site:
http://chronoatlas.com/mapviewer.aspx