A few people last week were asking about the Interactive map and how it works.
The concept behind the map is very easy; basically I position a map within the browser and then position a circle on top of it at given coordinates. Each floor of the map is an image that is 760 pixels wide x 600 pixels high. Armed with this knowledge it is easy to place the red circle in exactly the right place on the (give or take some fine tuning).
Here are some links that open the map with the circle at position 200x200, and 400x400:
http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=200&left=200&floor=ground
http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=400&left=400&floor=ground
You can see from the URLs that it is easy to place the circle wherever you want just by changing the values of the top and left variables. By combining some extra features, such as a title and a smaller circle, we can start to use the map for any purpose. For example if you wanted to show a student where consultation room AH1.23 is on the second floor we would only need to change the top, left, and floor variables in the URL, give it a title and tell it we want to use the small circle as a marker:
http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=375&left=375&floor=first&image=circleSmall&title=Meet%20me%20here%20at%20consultation%20room%20AH1.23
So now we have a map that can be used to show any position with Augustine House, we can use it for added functionality within other applications such as the OPAC. As we all know locations of items within the OPAC are determined by classmark (and type of resources in some cases). So we need some way of translating a classmark to a location that the map understands, which is a floor level, and a top and left position. This is done in a different web page called classmark.html. This web page expects two variables: classmark and type of loan. Once it has this information it can try to translate it to a position on the map. For example these are two lines from the code that are translating short loan:
if (classmark <= 499) { mapLevel = 'ground'; topPos = 545; leftPos = 450; }
This shows that any item that is short loan would have the ground floor map and have top and left coordinates set depending on the bays for short loan (below 499 and above 499). Here is an example of how the map might work within the OPAC. Use the 'opac map' link below to open up a predefined search. Once opened then click on the 'locate' link that is adjacent to the sublibrary within the sublibrary field.
By clicking the link next to the different loan types you can see how the location of the item is shown on the map. This is only a test application and there are still lots of issues to iron out, such as: Periodicals having no location information, how to handle CR material, and how to handle other material such as fiction, scores, etc.
Have a play with the map and see what you think....I'm sure there are lots of uses it could be put to.
The concept behind the map is very easy; basically I position a map within the browser and then position a circle on top of it at given coordinates. Each floor of the map is an image that is 760 pixels wide x 600 pixels high. Armed with this knowledge it is easy to place the red circle in exactly the right place on the (give or take some fine tuning).
Here are some links that open the map with the circle at position 200x200, and 400x400:
http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=200&left=200&floor=ground
http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=400&left=400&floor=ground
You can see from the URLs that it is easy to place the circle wherever you want just by changing the values of the top and left variables. By combining some extra features, such as a title and a smaller circle, we can start to use the map for any purpose. For example if you wanted to show a student where consultation room AH1.23 is on the second floor we would only need to change the top, left, and floor variables in the URL, give it a title and tell it we want to use the small circle as a marker:
http://libcat-dev-nhr-01.canterbury.ac.uk:8993/map/map.html?top=375&left=375&floor=first&image=circleSmall&title=Meet%20me%20here%20at%20consultation%20room%20AH1.23
So now we have a map that can be used to show any position with Augustine House, we can use it for added functionality within other applications such as the OPAC. As we all know locations of items within the OPAC are determined by classmark (and type of resources in some cases). So we need some way of translating a classmark to a location that the map understands, which is a floor level, and a top and left position. This is done in a different web page called classmark.html. This web page expects two variables: classmark and type of loan. Once it has this information it can try to translate it to a position on the map. For example these are two lines from the code that are translating short loan:
if (classmark <= 499) { mapLevel = 'ground'; topPos = 545; leftPos = 450; }
else if (classmark <= 999) { mapLevel = 'ground'; topPos = 515; leftPos = 405; }
This shows that any item that is short loan would have the ground floor map and have top and left coordinates set depending on the bays for short loan (below 499 and above 499). Here is an example of how the map might work within the OPAC. Use the 'opac map' link below to open up a predefined search. Once opened then click on the 'locate' link that is adjacent to the sublibrary within the sublibrary field.
By clicking the link next to the different loan types you can see how the location of the item is shown on the map. This is only a test application and there are still lots of issues to iron out, such as: Periodicals having no location information, how to handle CR material, and how to handle other material such as fiction, scores, etc.
Have a play with the map and see what you think....I'm sure there are lots of uses it could be put to.
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