The new Campus Map is now at a point where it does nearly everything the old Campus Map did and a bit more. Please try it out and give me your feedback in the comments here. If something doesn’t work, be sure to tell me what browser (and version) you’re using to help me track down the bug.
I should note: some of the building descriptions and department listings haven’t been updated since 2005. I’m working with College Communications to improve these.
Here are some of the features that already work:
- Click Categories to turn on and off different types of placemarks.
- The map is automatically redrawn when you select a department.
- If there’s only one location that corresponds to your selection, you’re forwarded straight to the detailed page on that location.
- Each detailed location page has these new features:
- An outline of the location drawn on a map.
- Audio files from the Murmur project, if available, telling you stories about that location.
- A list of all the courses being taught in that location this semester.
- Address information marked up using the new schema.org standard to give more information to Google, Bing and Yahoo.
- foursquare information for all of the locations that have foursquare.com venue pages.
- Floor plans, if available.
- Matt LaFrance has been creating 3D models of campus buildings which will be added over the course of the summer. You can already see some of the Bread Loaf campus in Google Earth.
Here are some of the features that I’m still working on, but will be coming soon:
- The map will automatically generate a KML file that can be used to view that campus in Google Earth and will also provide the data for our mobile site, which is being built out current.
- Adding the remaining placemarks from the old Campus Map such as the emergency phones, dining halls, and art in public places.
- More buildings from Bread Loaf, as well as MIIS, Schools Abroad, and Study Abroad Programs.
- We’ll be able to create a Category for any hosted KML file (like the tree map) or blog with its own places (like MiddLab) and those placemarks will get automatically added to the map and refreshed when the KML or blog is updated.
- The Address area for department and office pages on our site will get its information from, and link out to, the location pages.
- The Parking Lot location pages will list each lot’s capacity and whether it’s Faculty & Staff, Student, or Visitor parking.
- Directory integration for the location pages, showing you which Faculty and Staff work in each building, and the reverse: when you search the Directory you’ll get a link to the Campus Map for the person’s address.
- Event listings for each location, tied to 25Live.
- When you look up a course in the Catalog, you could get a link to the location page for the building where the course is taught, and (super blue sky time here) when you build out your courses in the Schedule Planner you could see a map with the location of each course and walking directions between each building.
A few of these features will be available in the next few days and I’ll post in the comments when they’re ready, but I wanted to let people know that this application was getting updated to give you a chance to try it out and let me know what works and what doesn’t.
Oh, and if there’s a really cool idea for a feature that I didn’t list above, please share that as well!