Supplemental Material:

Timeline dataset directory

Index: 1

Timeline dataset: US Military Operations since 1775 (Wikipedia)

Number of events: 318

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1775

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: 9 (regions)

Number of event types: 9 (regions)

Comments: --

Index: 2

Timeline dataset: A History of Oil Companies (compiled by E. V. Thompson)

Number of events: 370

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1833

Latest event: 2000

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: --

Comments: --

Index: 3

Timeline dataset: Epidemics since the 14th Century (Wikipedia)

Number of events: 139

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 165

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: 9 (regions)

Number of event types: 9 (disease types)

Comments: long tail

Index: 4

Timeline dataset: Comparative Constitutions (by 13pt)

Number of events: 3426

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1789

Latest event: 2013

Number of facets: 210 (countries)

Number of event types: 5 (event types)

Comments: (adapted from an existing visualization by 13pt)

Index: 5

Timeline dataset: (News event timeline)

Number of events: 121

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 2001-01-01

Latest event: 2014-04-11

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 5 (event types)

Comments: (collaborator data, adapated from collaborator's existing timeline visualization)

Index: 6

Timeline dataset: (Comparative government policy timeline)

Number of events: 55

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1919

Latest event: 2008

Number of facets: 5 (countries)

Number of event types: 5 (countries)

Comments: (collaborator data)

Index: 7

Timeline dataset: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Number of events: 39

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1990-08-01

Latest event: 2010-11-30

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 5 (event types)

Comments: TimeFlow demo dataset

Index: 8

Timeline dataset: Priestley's Chart of Biography (Wikipedia)

Number of events: 57

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: -640

Latest event: 15

Number of facets: 2 (profession)

Number of event types: --

Comments: (adapted from Priestley's classic graphic)

Index: 9

Timeline dataset: Great Philosophers since the 8th Century BC (via rengel-de)

Number of events: 139

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: -800

Latest event: 2007

11 (regions)

Number of event types: 11 (regions)

Comments: (adapted from an existing visualization by rengel-de) bimodal distribution

Index: 10

Timeline dataset: Composers (via musicalics.com)

Number of events: 2828

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1071

Latest event: 2010

Number of facets: 6 (continent)

Number of event types: --

Comments: --

Index: 11

Timeline dataset: The Daily Routines of Famous Creative People

Number of events: 236

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 00:00

Latest event: 23:59

Number of facets: 26 (people)

Number of event types: 26 (event type)

Comments: (adapted from an existing infographic by Podio)

Index: 12

Timeline dataset: Visualising painters' lives (by Accurat)

Number of events: 206

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1862

Latest event: 1989

Number of facets: 10 (artists)

Number of event types: 8 (event type)

Comments: (adapted from an existing infographic by Accurat)

Index: 13

Timeline dataset: From first published to masterpieces (by Accurat)

Number of events: 227

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1835

Latest event: 2010

Number of facets: 75 (authors)

Number of event types: 7 (event types)

Comments: (adapted from an existing infographic by Accurat, original uses relative scale)

Index: 14

Timeline dataset: East Asian Dynasties (via bunkat)

Number of events: 24

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 5

Latest event: 1995

Number of facets: 3 (country)

Number of event types: 3 (country)

Comments: (adapted from an existing visualization by bunkat)

Index: 15

Timeline dataset: History's Largest Empires (by E. Lee)

Number of events: 34

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: -550

Latest event: 1997

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: --

Comments: (adapted from an existing visualization by E. Lee)

Index: 16

Timeline dataset: Obama's First 100 Days in Office

Number of events: 374

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 2009-01-20

Latest event: 2009-04-29

Number of facets: 8 (locations)

Number of event types: 11 (event types)

Comments: TimeFlow demo dataset

Index: 17

Timeline dataset: G7 Heads of State

Number of events: 279

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1721

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 4 (leaning)

Comments: (combination of 17b-h)

Index: 17a

Timeline dataset: G7 Heads of State since 1940

Number of events: 117

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1940

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 4 (leaning)

Comments: (combination of 17b-h)

Index: 17b

Timeline dataset: Presidents of the USA

Number of events: 44

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1789

Latest event: 2017

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 6 (political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 17c

Timeline dataset: Prime Ministers of Canada

Number of events: 27

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1867

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 6 (political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 17d

Timeline dataset: Prime Ministers of the UK

Number of events: 75

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1721

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 6 (political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 17e

Timeline dataset: Prime Ministers of Japan

Number of events: 85

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1885

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 8 (political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 17f

Timeline dataset: Presidents of France

Number of events: 24

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1848

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 11 (political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 17g

Timeline dataset: Presidents of Italy

Number of events: 13

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1948

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 11(political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 17h

Timeline dataset: Chancellors of Germany (Wikipedia)

Number of events: 9

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 1949

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 3 (political party)

Comments: consecutive spans

Index: 18

Timeline dataset: Arab Spring (by A. Katin and K. Khachaturov)

Number of events: 27

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 2010-12

Latest event: 2011-12-31

Number of facets: 12 (country)

Number of event types: 4 (event type)

Comments: (adapted from an existing infographic by A. Katin and K. Khachaturov)

Index: 19

Timeline dataset: Countdown to Singularity (by R. Kurzweil)

Number of events: 22

Date granularity: epochs

Earliest event: 3.5 x 109 years ago

Latest event: 1975

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: --

Comments: (adapted from an existing graphic by R. Kurzweil); epoch scale

Index: 20

Timeline dataset: A perspective on time (by M. Magalhaes)

Number of events: 60

Date granularity: epochs

Earliest event: 12.8 x 109 years ago

Latest event: 2017

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: --

Comments: (adapted from an existing infographic by M. Magalhaes); epoch scale

Index: 21

Timeline dataset: Grizzly Bear Mortalities (via the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations - Fish, Wildlife and Habitat Management)

Number of events: 1338

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1977

Latest event: 2011

Number of facets: 63 (regions)

Number of event types: 6 (cause of death)

Comments: --

Index: 22

Timeline dataset: C4-5 Tornadoes: 1973-2011

Number of events: 377

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 1973-03-10

Latest event: 2011-11-07

Number of facets: 31 (states)

Number of event types: 2 (severity levels)

Comments: (collaborator data)

Index: 22a

Timeline dataset: C3-5 Tornadoes: 2001-2011

Number of events: 452

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 2001-02-05

Latest event: 2011-12-22

Number of facets: 32 (states)

Number of event types: 3 (severity levels)

Comments: (collaborator data)

Index: 22b

Timeline dataset: C3-5 Tornadoes: Apr 27 2011

Number of events: 41

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 2011-04-27

Latest event: 2011-04-27

Number of facets: 5 (states)

Number of event types: 3 (severity levels)

Comments: collaborator data

Index: 23

Timeline dataset: C4-5 Hurricanes: 2001-2010 (via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division)

Number of events: 25

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 2001-10-08

Latest event: 2010-09-17

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 2 (severity levels)

Comments: periodic events

Index: 23a

Timeline dataset: C4-5 Hurricanes: 1960-2010 (via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division)

Number of events: 74

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 1960-09-02

Latest event: 2010-09-17

Number of facets: --

2 (severity levels)

Comments: periodic events

Index: 23b

Timeline dataset: C4-5 Hurricanes: 1910-2010 (via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Hurricane Research Division)

Number of events: 124

Date granularity: hours

Earliest event: 1910-10-16

Latest event: 2010-09-17

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 2 (severity levels)

Comments: periodic events

Index: 24

Timeline dataset: Life of a Typical American (by T. Urban)

Number of events: 19

Date granularity: weeks

Earliest event: 0 years

Latest event: 89

Number of facets: --

Number of event types: 8 (event types)

Comments: (adapted from an existing infographic by T. Urban)

Index: 25

Timeline dataset: Co-authors' publications

Number of events: 253

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1994

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: 5 (people)

Number of event types: 5 (people)

Comments: (personal data)

Index: 26

Timeline dataset: Author's travel 2011-2015

Number of events: 39

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 2011-07-20

Latest event: 2015-10-30

Number of facets: 3 (purpose)

Number of event types: 4 (region)

Comments: (personal data)

Index: 27

Timeline dataset: Author’s biography

Number of events: 63

Date granularity: days

Earliest event: 19xx-xx-xx

Latest event: 2015-05-01

Number of facets: 5 (event types)

Number of event types: 5 (event types)

Comments: (personal data)

Index: 28

Timeline dataset: Author’s record collection by release year

Number of events: 204

Date granularity: years

Earliest event: 1971

Latest event: 2015

Number of facets: 2 (format)

Number of event types: 9 (genre)

Comments: (personal data)