During our five weeks in the Princeton Friend 017 computer lab, we have created... a new, highly interactive campus map! Basically, a more vibrant, colorful, and user-friendly version of what is available currently on the University website.

The Idea

The beginning of freshman year is a hectic time, and we hoped that our new map would be able to help incoming freshmen quickly find their way across campus. The added features will hopefully aid freshmen (and other users, of course) in adapting to a new environment.

The Process

We began building the application for a new campus map using an Adobe Illustrator image file and our COS 126 programming skills. First, we used a depth-first-search that found all of the coordinates of the buildings on the map and put those found into a linked-list. Using these coordinates, we added a search bar in which users could either type or use as a drop-down menu to pinpoint the desired location. A simple, single click on the actual map itself also highlights and brings up further information about the chosen building. Other features such as a zoom bar, categories, and click-and-drag were added to enable more intuitive user interactivity with the map.

Much time was spent on learning and implementing GUI features using primarily the Java programming language, and thus created a Java applet. If time allows in the future, we would like to add more features such as a route-finder and a “You are currently here” locator.

The Result

Click here and see for yourself!

The Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Professor Kevin Wayne and graduate student Yida Wang for their indispensable help.

Created by Megan Skalbeck and Chester Kwak