[okfn-discuss] [ANN] TimeMapper - Create Elegant TimeMaps from Google Spreadsheets in seconds

Mon Oct 14 21:42:56 UTC 2013

On Monday, 14 October 2013, Gene Shackman wrote:

> Looks nice, but why do you have to sign up using a twitter account? And
> why google spreadsheets? What if you don't have an account with either of
> those? For future applications can you design it so you don't need twitter
> or google?
>

Twitter: happy to have another sign in mechanism but want something quick
and convenient for most people that involved them already having reserved a
unique username. Specifically we wanted to avoid being responsible, at this
point, for doing the whole signup process (storing passwords, doing
password recovery, handling spam accounts etc)

Re google spreadsheets: its the best simple tabular data backend and one
that very large number of people use. JSON and straight up CSV could easily
be supported but they are more complex and are more complex for
non-techhies to use (e.g. can't just be any CSV would need to be one CORS
accessible etc).

Rufus

>
> Gene
>
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'rufus.pollock at okfn.org');>>
> *To:* okfn-discuss <okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org <javascript:_e({},
> 'cvml', 'okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org');>>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 14, 2013 3:34 AM
> *Subject:* [okfn-discuss] [ANN] TimeMapper - Create Elegant TimeMaps from
> Google Spreadsheets in seconds
>
> Hi All,
>
> TimeMapper <http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/> is a new web app from Open
> Knowledge Foundation Labs <http://okfnlabs.org/> that lets you create
> interactive timemaps from Google spreadsheets quickly and easily.
>
> http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org
>
> More information in this post:
> http://okfnlabs.org/blog/2013/10/11/timemapper.html
>
> Examples:
>
>    - Major Battles in the Napoleonic Wars<http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/rufuspollock/major-battles-napoleonic-wars>
>    - Medieval Philosophers<http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/okfn/medieval-philosophers>
>    - US City Bankruptcies since the Financial Crisis<http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/rufuspollock/us-city-bankruptcies>
>    - Archaeology of Wine<http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/adamrabinowitz/archaeowinetimeliner>
>
> The site is a simple node.js app with storage into s3. The timemap viz is
> pure JS built using KnightLabs excellent Timeline.js for the timeline and
> Leaflet (with OSM) for the maps. For those interested in the code it can be
> found here: https://github.com/okfn/timemapper/
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus
> **
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
*

Rufus Pollock

Founder and Executive Director | skype: rufuspollock |
@rufuspollock<https://twitter.com/rufuspollock>

The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>

Empowering through Open Knowledge
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*
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