The History of Human Population

3D Urban Expansion is an interactive virtual globe which shows the history of urban populations around the world over the last two thousand years. The globe uses data from the Yale study 'Spatializing 6,000 Years of Global Urbanization' to show the number of people living in urban environments across the world from 2000 BC until 1980 AD.

The interactive 3D globe includes a timeline control which you can use to select years between 2000 BC and 1980 AD. Select a year using this control and the globe updates to show how many people were living in different urban environments around the world. The numbers of people living in individual cities is shown using 3D towers. The taller a tower then the bigger the urban population.

Under the hood interactive 3D globe was created using the Three.js Globe Visualization library, which can be used to create Three.js powered WebGL globes.



You can also explore the history of world-wide population growth from 1 BC to 2050 on World Population : An Interactive Experience. In the year 1 BC the population of planet Earth was around 170 million. It is expected to reach 10 billion by the year 2100.

World Population : An Interactive Experience is a world map and timeline which visualizes global population trends over the last two thousand years. The map itself shows locations throughout history where more than 1 million people have lived. The map also includes a wealth of information about historical landmarks important to population trends. This information includes historical developments in science, food production, health, the environment and in human society.