Chronoscope World is a time machine to explore the history of the world, browsing maps from the 13^th until the 20^th century. The new features of update 2.9 (Feb 2021) will be presented briefly on this page.

Maps

Chronoscope World 2.9 provdies access to 2,171 old maps. This are 600 more maps than in the previous version 2.8.

In addition, 1,966 maps by the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library Hannover can be displayed. They have the signature LX and are disabled by default because they are only roughly located.

User Interface

Toolbars

The Main Bar offers functions to search for maps. The title of the current map can be clicked to center the old map. (keyboard shortcut H).

Chronoscope World 2.9 updates:

The Layout function (keyboard shortcut L) shows the outlines of all maps.

• Outlines will only be shown for maps with a center inside the current view. Other outlines will be hidden until the view is moved or zoomed.
• The set of active maps can be filtered in two ways: by time and by library.
  • The timeline contains two sliders to define the lower and upper age for the maps. The interval can be moved as well.
    keyboard shortcuts:
    • Press Shift Q and Shift W to shift the interval.
    • Press Y to quickly define an interval to +/- 10 years based on the current map.
  • The set of active maps can be limited to just one library. Therefore the map signature can be configured with the popup menu. The options are all or no maps of the library for the current map..
• Map search and random rocket flights use the set of active maps.

Random Rocket Flight – randomly selects a map.

• keyboard shortcuts
  • R
  • Autopilot with Alt R

GeoURL Input

• In addition to URLs of online maps, you can also enter coordinates directly, e.g.: 53.5555N 10E
• Each entry that is accepted by the GeoURL input dialog can also be applied via drag’n’drop to the map area. Try GeoURLs from Wikipedia or tweets by Sentinel2Bot.

Try it yourself with the Panthéon:

Use the context menu to copy the link with the coordinates (top right on the page) and paste it into the GeoURL dialog;
or arrange the windows to be able to drag’n’drop the coordinates link from Wikipedia [48°50'46"N 2°20'45"E] onto the Chronoscope.

The View Bar offers functions to change the background map, show the information layer, and adjasut the visibility of the old map.

Chronoscope World 2.9 updates:

Mountain View – shows a shaded relief for hills and the floor of the sea.

The option is only enabled for graphical modes, not for the satellite view.

• keyboard shortcut: M
• Secret feature: in satellite view, key M launches Chronoscope 3D with “real” mountains. Check ot out at ChronoVolcano and ChronoAlexM

Information Layer

• 1400 Unesco world heritage sites marked with triangels
• Some selected podcasts, videos and 360°-projects are marked with camera icons. Most of the recommendation is for the area of Hamburg.

The City Bar offers a chronological set of map for historical urban development.

Example: Rom

• keyboard shortcuts
  • Press C to shows the map table for a city.
  • Press 1 2 3… to select a map

Here is a list of cities with this feature enabled: Chrono CityTour

History Bar

3 specific view positions can be remembered by clicking the stars. The data will be stored for just one day before the cookie will be invalidated.

The stars can be used to quickly switch between some maps to compare and inspect specific details.

• keyboard shortcuts
  • Press Alt 1 - 3 to remember a view or to reposition the Chonoscope to a stored location.

Open the history table to see the sequence of visited maps.

• keyboard shortcuts
  • Press B to open the map table with previous maps.
  • Press 1 2 3 … to select a map.

Map Table

The Search function open the map table with the set of maps that best fit the current view.

Chronoscope World 2.9 update:

• Sort map table by time.
  keyboard shortcut J

Victoria Menu

Click the ChronoCursor to open the Victoria Menu.

Chronoscope World 2.9 updates:

• Open PastVu to find vintage photos world wide
• Open eFoto 2.0 to find vintage photos for Hamburg
• Open the Berlin Portal

More Info

• Tutorial 2.11
• Tutorial 2.10
• Timetravel’s Guide to the Chronoscope – a brief manual
• Release Notes for all versions

Please fasten seat-belts and enjoy the timetravel: