When we received news earlier this year that Google Earth Pro is now free to download, we rejoiced — the digital world has become our oyster, with mind-boggling levels of geographic and demographic statistics at our fingertips. In fact, we have access to such an amount of data that the ocean of information can be a challenge to wade through, often demanding an inordinate amount of time toggling layers on and off in a desperate attempt to make sense of it all.
Not to worry, though, for your mapping salvation is here: Somnath Ray and Vaibhav Bhawsar have created Timescape, a fully customizable globe that allows you to distill data down to the essential elements for your research project.The “interactive storytelling platform” enables you to group information together geographically and chronologically, combining text, images, links and color-coded tags to paint a comprehensive picture of your chosen subject.
Moreover, the Timescape team has chosen a topical theme to show off the app’s powers of graphic simplification: The Pritzker Prize. Panning around the globe, you can pick out any winner and their associated projects, from Sir Norman Foster and his elegant Carre d’Art to Frei Otto and the wonderful tensile roofing of the Munich Olympic Park. At a glance, the map provides some startling insights: the preponderance of American, European and Japanese winners, and a distinct shortage of female laureates, to name but two.
Timescape’s format makes it possible to communicate complex histories in a clear and accessible manner, and the most intriguing part is the fact that anyone can make a map… for anything. The potential is vast: One could chart the progression of modernism across the globe, track the ascension of the world’s tallest buildings, or pinpoint the location and backstories of the planet’s best ruin porn. Whatever your passion, you can map it here.
Speaking of which, the first person to map the A+ Award Winners earns my unending respect — ready, set, go!
Yours globally,
