VisualEyes

VisualEyes allows users to interactively browse spatial and temporal events in a number of ways. It is a generative browser, allowing users to not only view preset collections of events, but to construct their own views of the events based on selected criteria. VisualEyes makes it easy to construct complex queries about events, weaving maps, timelines, and data visualizations to encourage insight.

VisualEyes encourages primary source documents to speak more directly to the audience by providing visualizations of the relationships, chronologies, and causal events. They will often contain word-based narrative, in written or oral forms to help connect the resources, but the browser allows for a new form of storytelling, using guided visualizations. These visualizations use new methods of interpreting and presenting historic inquiry, such as animation over time, charts, maps, data, and interactive timelines to graphically show the relationships between multiple kinds of information.

More Information about VisualEyes

A screencast tour of some VisualEyes Projects

A Historian's View of VisualEyes (née, HistoryBrowser)

How VisualEyes Works

Overview of Making VisualEyes Projects

Flash required
The live visualizations below require Adobe Flash v9 or later. You can download it for free here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer

Jefferson's Travels to England

The 2007 project is a visualization of Thomas Jefferson's 1786 trip to England.
Click here Jefferson's Travels to England Visualization, or on a picture below see the live visualization.

Jefferson's Travels while in London England in 1786

A visualization of the mail Jefferson
sent and received during the trip

A look at Benjamin West's school
of artists

Jefferson's Travels to Poplar Forest

The 2008 project looked at Jefferson's Travels to his retirement home and Plantation, Poplar Forest.
Click here Jefferson's Travels to Poplar Forest Visualization, or on a picture below to see the live visualization.

Jefferson's route from Monticello to
Poplar Forest on a historic map.

The architecture of Jefferson's home at Poplar Forest

A calendar of the
Tobacco production cycle

Texas Slavery Project

A mapping of slave ownership in Texas from 1837 to 1845 by Andrew Torget.
Click here Texas Slavery Project Visualization, or on a picture below to see the live visualization.

Mapping of slaveholders and
slaves by county

Interactive querying of slave
populations

The Texas Slavery Project's
Website

Vinegar Hill MemoryScape

A visualization of a 1960 Charlottesville, VA urban renewal project.
Click here Vinegar Hill Visualization, or on a picture below to see the live visualization.

Interactive querying of
Vinegar Hill property appraisals

Timeline of aerial photographs and news summaries from 1954-1992

Flickr image site with 100's
of photos from 1961

Other VisualEyes Projects

James Smithson
A look at Smithsonian benefactor James Smithson from 1760 to 1830 created for the Smithsonian Institution.
Origins of a Railroad Town: Parksley, VA
A visualization of the town of Parksley, VA from 1884 to 1904 by Brooks Miles Barnes.
Hagley Museum
A visualization of the Dupont Company's gunpowder works on the Branywine river 1804-1842.

Tools

ArcGIS/AI map importer
A tool to convert Maps in ESRI's ArcGIS & Adobe Illustrator format
Preliminary XML Documentation
Very rough documentation on how to make projects in VisualEyes
VisEdit: VisualEyes Project Tool
A tool to edit/create projects in VisualEyes
Project Support Blog
A support blog for people creatingVisualEyes project

Contact

Bill Ferster, Project director
bferster - @ - virginia.edu
+1 (540) 592-7001

This project was started at the Virginia Center for Digital History and is partially funded by a grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities.

VisualEyes allows users to interactively browse spatial and temporal events in a number of ways. It is a generative browser, allowing users to not only view preset collections of events, but to construct their own views of the events based on selected criteria. VisualEyes makes it easy to construct complex queries about events, weaving maps, timelines, and data visualizations to encourage insight. VisualEyes encourages primary source documents to speak more directly to the audience by providing visualizations of the relationships, chronologies, and causal events. They will often contain word-based narrative, in written or oral forms to help connect the resources, but the browser allows for a new form of storytelling, using guided visualizations. These visualizations use new methods of interpreting and presenting historic inquiry, such as animation over time, charts, maps, data, and interactive timelines to graphically show the relationships between multiple kinds of information. More Information about VisualEyes A screencast tour of some VisualEyes Projects A Historian's View of VisualEyes (née, HistoryBrowser) How VisualEyes Works Overview of Making VisualEyes Projects Flash required The live visualizations below require Adobe Flash v9 or later. You can download it for free here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer Jefferson's Travels to England The 2007 project is a visualization of Thomas Jefferson's 1786 trip to England. Click here Jefferson's Travels to England Visualization, or on a picture below see the live visualization.
Jefferson's Travels while in London England in 1786	A visualization of the mail Jefferson sent and received during the trip	A look at Benjamin West's school of artists
Jefferson's Travels to Poplar Forest The 2008 project looked at Jefferson's Travels to his retirement home and Plantation, Poplar Forest. Click here Jefferson's Travels to Poplar Forest Visualization, or on a picture below to see the live visualization.
Jefferson's route from Monticello to Poplar Forest on a historic map.	The architecture of Jefferson's home at Poplar Forest	A calendar of the Tobacco production cycle
Texas Slavery Project A mapping of slave ownership in Texas from 1837 to 1845 by Andrew Torget. Click here Texas Slavery Project Visualization, or on a picture below to see the live visualization.
Mapping of slaveholders and slaves by county	Interactive querying of slave populations	The Texas Slavery Project's Website
Vinegar Hill MemoryScape A visualization of a 1960 Charlottesville, VA urban renewal project. Click here Vinegar Hill Visualization, or on a picture below to see the live visualization.
Interactive querying of Vinegar Hill property appraisals	Timeline of aerial photographs and news summaries from 1954-1992	Flickr image site with 100's of photos from 1961
Other VisualEyes Projects James Smithson A look at Smithsonian benefactor James Smithson from 1760 to 1830 created for the Smithsonian Institution. Origins of a Railroad Town: Parksley, VA A visualization of the town of Parksley, VA from 1884 to 1904 by Brooks Miles Barnes. Hagley Museum A visualization of the Dupont Company's gunpowder works on the Branywine river 1804-1842. Tools ArcGIS/AI map importer A tool to convert Maps in ESRI's ArcGIS & Adobe Illustrator format Preliminary XML Documentation Very rough documentation on how to make projects in VisualEyes VisEdit: VisualEyes Project Tool A tool to edit/create projects in VisualEyes Project Support Blog A support blog for people creatingVisualEyes project Contact Bill Ferster, Project director bferster - @ - virginia.edu +1 (540) 592-7001 This project was started at the Virginia Center for Digital History and is partially funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.