How the Map Works

The campus map allows for interactive viewing of a detailed campus map. The user can pan and zoom in the map. A file for each named building can be viewed by clicking on the building at the highest zoom level. At the heart of the system is a CGI program (written in C++) which can take the various inputs and generate an image for the user.

The design goals for this map emphasized the ability to make changes to either the graphical map images or the information in the map without requiring changes to the program which processes it. To that end, control files and template files were used wherever possible. These control files can be modified so that the look and feel, as well as the information in the map, can be easily changed without requiring programming changes.

This diagram shows the overall flow of the map. The images, template files, and individual HTML for the buildings all flow through the CGI script. The image the user sees is generated on the fly by taking the appropriate section of the appropriate zoom level map.

Generated Image

There is more information available about the components and the functionality of the map.