Experimenting Timelines for Artefacts Analysis: from Time Distribution to Information Visualisation

When studying heritage artefacts, it is important to understand, communicate and cross-examine indications about how they evolved through time. Changes occurring in the artefact’s morphology or functional role, once properly described and distributed in time, can be represented using linear graphics called timelines. Timelines have been, before and within the computer age, a classical and easy to understand visual support enabling the representation of a chronology, with in a number of examples a parallel reading of heterogeneous indications (historical context, cultural context, major dramatic events, etc.). In this paper, we first propose an overview of various types of timelines, applied to the analysis of architectural changes. We then introduce real-case experiments in which timelines are designed not only as a time-distribution representation, but also as information visualisation tools. The experimental set covers over 700 transformations within the urban centre of the city of Kraków. These experiments present the benefits of alternative graphic disposals that allow comparative and analytical readings of indications about artefacts changes, and can ultimately enhance information uncovering.