In this article we will look at the following topics:

• US States Map with Drill Down Functionality

• User Interaction with Custom Route Maps

Building a Multi-layer Map with Drill-Down Navigation

Most projects start with a top-level perspective that shows the United States delineated by State divisions, however, added features, including topographical details and a custom background image, along with relevant landmarks, can be included to engage users and enhance the interaction with the product. In the case of tourism-related maps with a focus on leisure, it would be encouraging to show the location of major cities, but also the distribution of mountain ranges and major rivers to visually define their distance from cities. In order to custom route maps to work effectively, the map should smoothly transition from a national view to an individual state view while preserving the topographical details at the lower levels. Information within a State can also be filtered based on the access level of the viewer. A common example of this would be to only show a few larger cities as icons at the national level, but include smaller communities along with text labels when viewing the map at the State level. For custom route maps, one approach would be to only show the route’s starting point as an icon on the map in order to avoid unnecessary crowing of information, however similar to the transition between the initial levels, once a start point is selected the State map would transition to street-level detail showing its entirety within Open Street Map. All of the data from the upper levels of the map would also be carried into the Open Street Map view, with the benefit that the route becomes visible as an overlay on any major road or path. The way that objects, including complex lines that compose routes, are shown in the project is through GPS coordinates, which in the case of custom route maps, would be collected by participants and later uploaded to the project. In addition to the course of the route, it would also be possible to add features, depicted as icons on the map, defining special scenic points with embedded images or user-provided videos. The dynamic nature of how data is called within the project makes it easy for users to explore the map, seamlessly changing between levels to view specific routes as a process to determine the start of their next adventure.

Continuing and Maintaining Custom Route Maps

Once the structure of a custom map has been created, with the laters having been defined and an overall look-and-feel established for the page, the fun of building the content begins. Some projects are oriented to be constructed in-house, where routes, along with all visual content are created by a team and produced on the map so that the public can view the application, but not contribute directly. This approach has many benefits, among which is the close oversight of content to ensure continuity and quality in the final publication of information. While this works well for smaller projects, perhaps focused on a reduced geographical area, the challenge to provide reliable first-hand content for larger regions can be too demanding. In many such examples, maps are created in one area by the original creators but eventually shared with the public to expand the content, while preserving a framework of controls to provide a unified experience throughout the project. This shared participation requires projects to have multi-level layers of access. The general public can view the map and provide feedback, but subscribed users registered and approved by an administrator can also post new content, including adding new routes and contributing points of interest with interactive content. Furthermore, any new entries would be flagged on the backend to require final approval by an administrator before being completely published and made visible to the public. As a project expands, it may start to cover many categories of routes that would be more beneficially shown as individual layers. A system of filters, to define custom map routes based on predefined categories, such as hiking trails, dirt roads, or by-ways to name a few options, would assist users in planning their next excursion. 

As with any project, if you are considering creating a custom mapping solution, feel free to contact jQueryMaps for a free consultation. 

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In this article, we will look at the following topics: 

• Area Location Maps

• Custom Interior Building Maps

Interactive Map of events in a city and country and distribution lines

Coordinating a major event such as hosting an Olympic competition requires the careful oversight of a country’s infrastructure. Hosting nations need to clarify that cities in which events will be held are capable of reliably and safely moving spectators to their destinations. This involves examining existing train, shuttle, and bus networks around a city and employing new technology to guarantee the punctuality of all services along defined routes. Accurate real-time information and interactive maps are important to achieving this goal, while additional layers of data can be added by deploying GPS data and immediate passenger statistics gathered at the point of entry. This system informs viewers of the capacity of all upcoming transportation services, along with their current occupancy, and an accurate estimate of their arrival time to any venue. Interactive maps give a scaled-back sense of the location of major events distributed throughout an area with the ability to explore individual arenas within a city. As we will discuss further in the article, arenas can be expanded into building maps, showing the interior details of a venue. With any project, a robust system of filters could be incorporated to select locations based on dates and specific competitions, graying out results that are not pertinent and highlighting all matches on the map. Multi-layered pop-up boxes with important details about a location, including video feeds, images, real-time data, and other interactive content can be embedded within the project and called for any location. An interactive map with the functionality to transition seamlessly from a country view to an individual building map is advantageous in coordinating transportation between cities in a country and between locations within a city.

Custom Building Maps and Interior Venues

Projects that require a certain level of granularity can combine jQueryMaps with OpenStreetMap to show street-level detail within a city and in the vicinity of a venue or Olympic village. Any features that are not shown at the street level, such as temporary structures, can be added as selectable objects positioned as overlays on the map. This would include highlighting arenas within an Olympic village and activating these locations based on the results of a filter search. This enables users to query for specific events or activities on a certain day and the result of the search would quickly display as activated venues on a city map. Combining maps with custom filters can produce powerful results that are tailored to the users navigating within the software. This can also include inserting a visitor ID and being provided an overview of all events included within the ticket over the span of several days. The itinerary can furthermore display below the map in a tabular form that is easily exported to a PDF or print format. When producing building maps, it is important that the layout is true to the real distribution of rooms and locations within the facility. This is accomplished by building maps according to true architectural, DWG files. Clients can adapt the DWG files internally and subsequently share them with jQueryMaps to be incorporated into the project. One of the highlights of any interior map project is the inclusion of routing capabilities that direct users from a current location or specified point on the map to any destination. While most of the discussion has been focused on applications accessed through mobile devices, it is also common to integrate interactive building maps, as part of a fixed kiosk with a building. This point of information is useful to visitors given the scale of the screen, but it mirrors the information displayed through mobile devices. In the example mentioned above where the itinerary of a visitor is called based on their past ID, the navigation tool, both within the application or on a kiosk screen can direct them from various points within the building to their specific seats. The map views and data shown on the map can always be printed or easily shared with friends and family at the click of a mouse. The combination of multi-layered maps, spanning views of an entire Country to the interior of a specific building is a highly powerful tool to which multiple sources of data can be connected. Feel free to contact us at jQueryMaps for any questions regarding custom campus or building maps.

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In this article we will look at the following topics:

• Building Reliable and Responsive Maps

• Enabling Interactive Features within your Software

Considerations when Contemplating Requirements for your Mapping Software

Most custom mapping tools are created based on existing shapes or DXF layers. In some cases, the trail routes may already have been created using a vector GIS program which can be processed by our team and compiled to run with jQueryMaps. If needed, this task can also be completed externally and delivered to our cartography team at a later date, either by using a tool that captures the GPS coordinates of a path or by tracing the route over a background image that is true to its geospatial position. In both instances, the final files would provide the exact location of the route, which commonly is shown over a high-resolution topographic map background. The interactive maps features of the software can then be built into the system to allow for markers to be positioned along the route showing any number of features, ranging from the suggested views, shelters, or diversions along the hike. The accurate display of the route is just the beginning of the project, as the true value of the interactive map is the data added on the backend. If the project is created with an admin tool, subscribed users can easily upload content for approval which can then be accessed by the public. A first-hand account from a fellow hiker, with insights on a specific portion of a hike along with images, has incredible value to potential explorers. The dynamic content is shown through a system of layered pop-up boxes which are organized according to tab categories and assigned to a specific lat/lon value along the hike. Users can click on an icon and quickly navigate the categories listed along the top of the pop-up box until they select the content that they would like to view, whether it be the most recent images, hiker notes, or other information stored in the project and conveniently organized by date. The convenience of being able to easily confirm a fork in the path with visual contact that has been uploaded by other members and confirmed within the system is a quick reassurance to keep your excursion on track. 

Offline Route Tracking Using Custom Maps

The success of any outdoor application designed to work in a rural setting is the ability to run the software offline. In the case of hiking trails, this means that the interactive tool needs to have the option to easily download the hike and all associated content to the internal storage of the device in order for the information to be visible even when the mobile device is outside of cell phone range. A user would be able to select through an intuitive interface, the specific hikes or even sections of a hike (for longer trails) that should be downloaded, and the interactive contact, such as images, would be filtered to only include the most recent information. The result would provide the hiker with instant access to the full hike route on interactive maps, all available GIS information, and specific interactive content along the route such as uploaded images, notes, and approved observations. The layout of the interactive maps can also be printed from within the application and stored either as a PDF file or sent to an external printer. Following the same functionality, a hike, or even portions of the hike can be exported and shared with other users through email or social media. This can be a convenient method to prepare a hike amongst a team with real information from the ground on which decisions can be based. This can range from the most recent content on trail conditions, to the types of views one can expect to have along the way. This information can guide the planning of a trip in order to avoid unwanted surprises so that the focus of being outdoors is centered on the views and positive experiences.

Whatever the type of outdoor plan that you are considering this summer when embarking on a hiking adventure, the support of interactive maps can be both fun and beneficial. Having knowledge of real-time trail information through an interactive tool that is not solely based on internet access is an asset to all outdoor aficionados. Contact jQueryMaps for more information on your next mapping project.

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In this article, we will look at the following topics

• Using Custom Maps to Build Forecast Models

• Showing Multiple Levels Within a Single Map Project

Combining Big Data with Custom Mapping Solutions

The scientists that build complex forecast models use numerous data metrics to compute predictions around climate change. These include increases in air temperature, water temperature, the concentration of gases in the atmosphere, and water levels, to name a few. As any location can be converted to a latitude/longitude reference point, interpretable by custom mapping solutions, the key to the data is the position from where the readings are taken. Most models rightly treat the situation as a world problem and display results on a World Map, however, the ability to focus on a specific region for a more detailed analysis of the data is equally important. Custom mapping solutions should work with several levels enabling users to garner information from a global perspective while preserving the ability to drill down into a county or region for more specific data. The type of information projected on these custom world maps can be multifold, and the system is flexible to accept new data sets as long as the information is categorized and geocoded in order to be identified on the map. At jQueryMaps, we have experience building these types of highly customized solutions, and our knowledge of how to best project different data sets is extensive. Depending on whether the data is a fixed point or a varying condition following a range of fluctuations, it may be more beneficial to either show individual icons for each collection point or group these locations on the backend to only show a heatmap with all of the variations. Projects are also not tied strictly to a single data set or fixed view. Many of the most compelling interactive maps employ a system of filters to allow users to display multiple data sets and manipulate the way the information is plotted. Through these mechanisms, users can interact with the information on a deeper level and draw new insights from the information. As most projects also benefit from a tabular list, the map, along with the accompanying lists can be easily exported for printing or insertion into presentations.

Custom Regional Maps

The ability to scale a project from a top-level view of the World to a specific region provides users with the benefit of perspective to see how imbalances in climate change affect the entire globe. Regions can be composed of traditional areas such as continents or alternatively custom regions can be forged by grouping together administrative divisions. For highly granular projects that fall within cities, it is also possible to integrate external sources using GIS data pulled from SHP files to produce the outlines of a scaled-in campus. Navigation then passes through these levels by assigning a parent-child ID relationship which brings users from the Global view to a custom region with only a few clicks of a mouse. If roadways are important, it is possible to show Open Street Map as a base layer or even link to Google maps within informational pop-up boxes. As all views shown in the project are georeferenced with outlines based on true coordinate values, the same data used at the World view is applicable to the regional maps. By applying the filters described above, users can manipulate the data on all levels, applying variables such as historical scroll bars, types of data collected, and whether the results should be displayed as heat maps or scattered points of individual collection sites. The final map view can always be exported as a high-resolution graphic to be shared and presented to other groups. Contact jQueryMaps for any questions on your next custom map project. 

When addressing climate change, it is crucial to make sound policy decisions based on trustworthy data and employ software tools that convey the information accurately. The flexibility of these tools adapt to different data sets and assist decision-makers on how changes should be applied to mitigate damage to areas most at risk. 

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Once large sectors are the population are protected, the virus will be limited in its capacity to spread through herd immunity. This will enable governments to ease social restrictions, allowing the economies to reopen and for people to return to more habitual activities, albeit while practicing caution. Given the importance that the vaccination process has for governments and their citizens, it is critical to track the progress using carefully gathered statistical data. This information once tabulated and filtered can be used to drive dynamic world maps to show the rate of vaccinations in real-time and compare the results amongst nations and within regions of specific countries.

In this article, we will look at the following topics:

• Combining real-time data with dynamic maps

• Using world maps to plan travel and reduce restrictions

Big Data and Granular Mapping at the World Level

With the goal of providing a mechanism to display real-time statistical data in an interpretable and easily presentable fashion, dynamic world maps can be paired with vaccine data tracking sources and configured to populate from the same backend databases. Information is often gathered at the National level, which is helpful for drawing comparisons amongst nations but is limited in providing useful statistics to the population. To this end, using more granular State, County, or municipal level maps, can be much more constructive. Projects can be configured to contain multiple views, each called through a simple dropdown filter so that viewers can choose whether to view aggregate statistics at the national level or hone in on subdivisions of a specific country. These multi-level maps are powerful tools for transmitting vaccination tracking reports to a community. The same map can show aggregate values at the Global level while also offering a comparison of information within States or Counties. Vaccination sites commonly collect the basic contact information for all treated individuals, including their home addresses. 

The individual data is kept private, but the address location can be assigned to a municipality or county so that the information is only tabulated according to this based division. Once each vaccine dose is assigned to the smallest division on the map, it is simple for the software to tally the values for all parent layers. The possibilities for using the software are multifold, including building a system of filters to define specific criteria on the maps, whether by date range or future projections. Since vaccination sites are already collecting the data, feeding this information to dynamic world maps would only involve connecting the map software to the backend databases. Once set up, the maps automatically refresh as new data is appended and information can be easily exported for presentations, both in a tabular form as well as high-resolution PNG files. The Dynamic Maps can inform viewers within the embedded website, as part of the goal of tracking progress and managing expectations within a community.

Relaxing Social Distancing Measures Using Dynamic World Maps

The goal for governments and the long-anticipated hope for citizens is that once a significant percentage of the population is vaccinated, the transition from imposed social distancing to more relaxed cautionary measures can begin. This shift will likely begin with the lifting of travel restraints in order to launch the tourism sector in time for the summer season. Yet as we see currently unfolding, the rollout of the vaccine is not progressing at the same rate across the developed world. The speed at which countries are able to successfully secure vaccines and administer them to their populations has fluctuated widely. As data is gathered, this information can be monitored using Dynamic World Maps and once specific countries cross a favorable threshold, maps can be configured to color code regions accordingly, providing viewers with a quick reference as to areas of most secure travel. This can be accomplished at the global level for international travel, but also applied to regions of specific countries by expanding the cartography to include sub-divisions by Province/State. This would benefit travelers as they plan their itineraries to concentrate their movements in areas with a higher level of vaccination, which in turn would most likely mean lower levels of social restrictions. The custom maps can be dovetailed with any type of administrative division, such as townships, as long as there is data to support this level of tabulation. For example, overlays can be applied on OpenStreetMaps to define specific districts within a city or townships within a County, which then could potentially show the percentage of residents who have been successfully vaccinated within this specific area. Policymakers can turn to these types of software tools when forecasting new guidelines and maximizing the efficacy of the vaccination campaign. 

There is a lot at stake in securing that the World is able to work together to provide a successful and equitable vaccination program to all citizens. Accurate data and the implementation of new software, including Dynamic World Maps, can be employed to serve this purpose and inform the general population. Please contact jQueryMaps with any questions on future mapping projects.

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