Digitizing My Ideas
First, I would like to say that if I could outsource my ideas, I would. I am an idea man who has little knowledge of how to put those ideas into action except by enlisting capable friends. I guess I have never quite outgrown that 1-800-Inventions type mentality that riches lay just out of reach of my half realized ideas.
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I think it would be fun, useful, and marketable to create a map of Washington, DC with popup images of monuments and linkable pages to information about them. This fall, I took a Civil War tour of Washington, DC that took us to neat historical places that I had no idea existed (because they were off the mall and don’t appear on tour maps). In addition to visiting the place where Lincoln was almost shot during the war (Ft. Stevens) and Lincoln Park, the instructor, Prof. Ed Smith explained how the monuments in Washington, DC are laid out in very meaningful and well-researched lines. For example, the President of the United States in the White House is constantly under the watchful eyes of Thomas Jefferson in the Jefferson Memorial. Abraham Lincoln watches Congress from the far end of the Mall, while Grant, mounted on his horse, looks at his Commander and Chief and protects one side of the Capitol whilst Armed Freedom watches over the other.
I think it would be very interesting and effective to show those connections on a virtual map. I have been told that it is a very daunting task to combine some sort of GIS and images and links because of all the coding, but until I actually know how much it is, I will not be flustered.
Please give me feedback and suggestions about this idea.
February 7th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
That sounds like a really great idea. There are a lot of really interesting and historically significant places that do not get on the tourist map that otherwise you just have to run across by guess and by golly. There is an interactive map of DC you might want to check out at http://birdseye.octo.dc.gov/main.html if you have not already.
February 7th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
I think that sounds excellent Ed. GIS is a wonderful tool..but I thinkyou can probably do it in a lower-cost and work sense then that. (While GIS is an excellent thought.
On a very basic level you can use Dreamweaver on a very high res map of Washington DC and use maybe java (or flash) to show the connections. Evne w/o Java or flash you can also just do an image map where certain parts are hyperlinked to bring up roll over information or images and further info about DC.
I think its a worthwhile idea…
February 13th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Priya’s idea (using image maps) is a good one; or you could use something like http://www.mapbuilder.net/ to layer your data over Google Maps. EIther way, the really interesting part isn’t the maps interface, but the content you’re talking about providing…also, since people don’t generally have internet-connected laptops out on the Mall, it’d be worth having a printable version for people to take with them after browsing the map…