We now have the ability to understand history by visualizing events using timelines and other visualization tools. While wikipedia is a great source of community curated history, it does not work well when you want to visualize data. For that, we need a database of events with an open API which allows simple queries. There are several timelining websites out there which focus on visualizations. However the data that they use is proprietary and belongs to them. TimeDb is a database of events which is open to everyone just like wikipedia. It allows other sites to build visualizations, such as timelines, on top of this open database.
You now have one definitive source of chronology (event) data. You can enter and research events like never before. You also have a chance to connect to others who are interested in the same events or parts of our history.
If you want to create a timeline or some creative visualization of events (such as showing which composers or scientists lived at the same time) you can use TimeDb API as a backend for your visualization. Please be mindful of how many hits you send to TimeDb and let us if you will be sending over 1,000 requests per day.
TimeDb is licensed underCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. You can freely use it in your website or app as long as you have an attribution with a link back to timedb.com.
I am Alex, a developer, manager and entrepreneur. I love history and use many resources, including wikipedia, to find interesting articles an stories. At the same time i have always been fascinated with data visualization. I have wanted to do this project for over 3 years and have just started working on it in 2015. If you want to help out or have suggestions, please use the feedback form.