Spatial-Temporal Navigators

For Globalization we want to be able to search by or view results though maps (geospatial) and timelines (temporal). This is not new. What is the literature on such interfaces?

Some names suggested to me to follow:
– Chris Jesse at IATH
– Rob Chavez at Perseus
– Neil Smith – Holy Cross, GIS
– UC Santa Barbara GIS group
– Temporal Modeling – Johanna and Bethany at the Speclab.