It turns out that sexy Silverlight based maps are a bit like buses, you don’t see any for a while and then two come along at once! Regardless of lame metaphors regarding the frequency of public transport we’ve got another mapping application which has just gone live:
Quick Video:
While the DWQR Map we published earlier in the week was more about the presentation and dissemination of information – pretty much a one way flow - the Summer Cabinet Map is much more about trying to engage with a community and provide an online destination where the distribution of information can become the start point for a conversation with users.
The Scottish Cabinet is holding five meetings outside Edinburgh over the Parliament's summer recess period, starting in Dundee and continuing through Melrose, Stornoway, Aberdeen and Glasgow. This follows on from last year's ground-breaking Summer Cabinet programme where several hundred people attended events in Dumfries, Inverness, Pitlochry and Skye. The Summer Cabinet Map shows each of these destinations and has the following features:
- Zooms to show Scotland as a start point
- Smooth zooming and panning with more detail seamlessly brought into view
- Select a location zooms to that location and the pin changes to show more detail, including date and location name
- When selected each location exposes a panel which offers various information and media
The Information Panel
The information panel allows users to easily browse a range of information and media relating to that location. It offers the following:
- When and Where – Shows the date, time and location of each of the events (Cabinet, Homecoming and National Conversation) at that location
- Media
- Podcasts – Over the course of the events the Scottish Government will produce podcasts which will then appear in this section. Clicking on a podcast plays it in place using the maps own MP3 player.
- Images – The map is automatically updated via a number of other websites and in the case of Images Flickr is monitored for particular tags and relevant images for the given location brought in. Thumbnails are shown and when clicked on a larger version is brought into view with slideshow functions to browse the other images. The photo’s title and description are also brought in from Flickr and displayed.
- YouTube – As with images YouTube is monitored for a range of tags and relevant videos are brought in and displayed a links within the map. At present when clicked YouTube is opened in another window, in the future we intend to include the ability to watch videos in place within the mapPlayer.
- News and Noise
- Articles – Any number of RSS feeds can be pulled into this area and the headlines displayed as links. In future we intend to introduce a mini-RSS reader so that content can also be read in situ within the map interface.
- Twitter – Twitter is monitored for a range of keywords relating to the location in question and relevant tweets brought in and displayed in a list. Clicking on a tweet will take you to that location on Twitter.
- Links and Resources
- Links – A list of hyperlinks to further relevant information for each location
- Resources – A list of hyperlinks to further relevant downloads for each location
- Comments – A quick and easy way for the public to give feedback on each location
Hooking this map up to third party services like Flickr, YouTube and Twitter is a great way of enriching the content and allowing the map to grow and update either automatically or guided by the client without any further technical input. In the case of the Scottish Government they already had Flickr, YouTube and Twitter accounts and so were able to leverage existing skills and processes to manage and interact with the map.
This approach also allows the public at large to join in with the conversation using tools and channels that they may already have accounts and familiarity with rather than asking them to learn the workings of yet another application or website.
It’s going to be fascinating to see the content and conversation grow around this map. If you’ve got geographically relevant data you’d like to expose alongside this sort of media and social interaction why not give us a call:
Bob Thomson
Telephone: +44 (0)131 260 3506
Email: bob@stormideas.com