Michael Friendly and Daniel Denis have compiled an amazing timeline of milestones in the history of thematic cartography, statistical graphics, and data visualization.

This page provides a graphic overview of the events in the history of data visualization that we call “milestones.” These milestones are shown below in the the form of an interactive timeline. The timeline is divided into two vertical sections. You can drag each section left or right to see milestones of different time periods. You can also click one of the links at the bottom of the timeline to jump to a particular epoch.

Including everything from USA Today to the S Language, from Sparklines to camera obscura, it’s an amazing collection of data.

Hat tip to Sean Ahern for pointing this out.

via Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography, Statistical Graphics, and Data Visualization.