Below is preview of an animation visualising global population growth. The full animation shows growth from 8000BC to 2040AD, but the preview below starts at 1500AD which is where population began to grow exponentially. In the animation each figure is the equivalent of one million people, however there is no spatial relationship to the earth surface area, the emphasis being that each figure has to appear within the frame of the screens view. The animation was created in Maya and the data is taken from the book 'Something new under the Sun' by John McNeill (isbn: 0-140-29509-7).