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A Brief History of Data Visualizationfrom Pre-16th Century to 19th Centuryhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903332726/in/dateposted-public/Friendly, 2006<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903332726/in/dateposted-public/" title="A Brief History of Data Visualization">The time distribution of events considered milestones in the history of data visualiza-tion, shown by a rug plot and density estimate</a>title
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-2001400Pre-16th CenturyThe earliest geometric diagrams includes tables of the positions of celestial bodies and maps used for navigation and exploration by the Egyptians. By 200 BC, Claudius Ptolemy (c.85-c.165) crafted the map projection of a spherical earth into latitude and longitude, which is regarded as standard until 14th century. During 14th century, Nicole Oresme (1323-1328) began plotting theoretical function as a proto bar graph.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903332761/in/dateposted-public/Funkhouser, 1936Planetary movements shown as cyclic inclinations over time, by an unknown as- th tronomer, appearing in a 10 century appendix to commentaries by A. T. Macrobius on Cicero’s
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1540157016th CenturyIn the 16th century, as the methods for precise observation and measurement, such as triangulation, advanced, images captured through camera obscura by Reginer Gemma-Frisius in 1545, recording of functions in tables by Georg Rheticus in 1550, and the first modern cartographic atlas by Abraham Ortelius in 1570, were created.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903513697/in/dateposted/Frisius, 1545First published picture of camera obscura in Gemma Frisius' 1545 book De Radio Astronomica et Geometrica
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16111644Early-17th CenturyChristopher Scheiner in 1611 introduced the idea of "small multiples", name given by Tufte later. Van Languran's 1644 graph of determinations of the distance, in longitude, from Toledo to Rome was viewed as a milestone for being the earliest-known exemplar of the principle of “effect ordering fordata display”. https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903513972/in/dateposted/Tufte, 1997Langren’s 1644 graph of determinations of the distance, in longitude, from Toledo toRome. The correct distance is 16◦300
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16601690Late-17th CenturyIn 1660s, systematic collection and study of social data, the so-called "political arithmetic", started in European countries, in order to better understand the wealth of the state. Around 1645, probability theory occurred, Christiaan Huygens in 1669 applied it with the coordinate systems to give the first graph of a continuous distribution function. In mid-1680s, the first bivariate plot derived from empirical data as well as the first weather map. Towards the end of the century, necessary elements for the development of graphical methods were at hand.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903513707/in/dateposted/Boyer, 1947First graph of a continuous distribution function, a graph of Gaunt's life table, and a demonstration of how to find the median remaining lifetime for a person of given age
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17001760Early-18th CenturyIn 1701, Edmund Halley used isolines to show contours of equal value on maps and charts. Next, Contour maps was introduced by Phillippe Buache in 1752. Johann Lambert (1728–1777) introduced the ideas of curve fitting and interpolation from empirical data points. Joseph Priestley followed in 1769 improved the method and created a detailed chart of history.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50902688343/in/dateposted/Buache, 1752Buache's 1770 Carte physique ou Geographie naturelle de la France
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17801790Late-18th CenturyIn 1782, Marcellin du Carla-Boniface introduced topographic maps.Timelines, or “cartes chronologiques” were first introduced by Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg.William Playfair (1759–1823) invented the line graph, bar chart, pie chart, circle graph, as well as describing the first instance of a modern scatterplot.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903394116/in/dateposted-public/Friendly, 2008Re-drawn version of a portion of Playfair’s 1801 pie-circle-line chart, comparingpopulation and taxes in several nations
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18001860Early-19th CenturyIn 1801, William Smith introduced the first geological maps. In 1826, Baron Charles Dupin the used continuous shadings to show the distribution and degree of illiteracy in France, known as the first unclassed choropleth map and perhaps the first modern-style thematic statistical map. In 1855, when the cholera epidemics was trending, Dr. John Snow produced his landmark dot map showing deaths due to cholera clustered around the Broad Street pump in London. From 1830 to 1850, the use of graphs began to become recognized in some official circles for economic and state planning.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903513682/in/dateposted/Snow, 1854Using this map, Snow and other scientists were able to trace the cholera outbreak to a single infected water pump.
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18601900Late-19th CenturyBy mid-1800s, official state statistical offices were established across Europe, as numerical data were seen more important in fields like social planning, industrialization, commerce, and transportation. Meanwhile, statistical theory initiated by Gauss and Laplace, which were extended to the social realm by Guerry and Quetelet aided with sensemaking of the huge amount of data. The Age of Enthusiasm gradually moved into the Golden Age, with more innovations in infographics and thematic cartography.https://www.flickr.com/photos/192001519@N02/50903393826/in/dateposted/Lallemand,1885Combination of many variables into multi-function nomograms, using 3D, juxtaposition of maps, parallel coordinate and hexagonal grids (L'Abaque Triomphe)
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