Synchronoptic view

A synchronoptic view is a graphic display of a number of entities as they proceed through time. A synchronoptic view can be used for many purposes, but is best suited as visual displays of history. A number of related timelines can be drawn on a single chart, showing which events and lives are contemporary and which are unconnected.

A synchronoptic view has important educational advantages. Visible information is much more easily learned, than when it is presented only in pure text form. History is an ideal subject for a synchronoptic view. Multiple timelines are able to show how events interacted. Multiple lifelines can show which people were contemporaries. (See example)

A combination of maps is also synchronoptic when it displays successive moments in time.