Campus Maps + Interaction – Clutter

Our interactive Campus Maps launched last spring and have been helping the university community find its way around campus successfully.  The WebComm team is in the process of taking the maps back to the basics by de-cluttering and simplifying the look and feel of things.  Before we give you a peek into what we’re planning, let’s review the ups and downs of the current version.

The Past in Numbers

• Since their launch, the maps have had over 73,000 hits, and over 76 percent of those hits are from new visitors.
• The fall semester averages over 20,000 hits, of which about 16,000 are new visitors.
• This month alone there have been over 8,000 hits.
• The average amount of time a visitor stays on the page is 55 seconds, which could mean two things:
  • Visitors are finding what they need quickly, which is what we want.
  • Visitors are distracted by all the visuals and just give up on finding things, which is what we aim to fix with the upcoming changes.

The improved version of Campus Maps that is in the works will be an exercise in focusing on the core of what a map user wants to do.  Instead of attempting to map out every tree, rock and bush on campus, we are going to give more attention to what’s really important to the everyday map user. Here’s what we want to do:

• Simplify everything for a faster experience and lighter look and feel.
• Optimize everything for mobile use and minimize the options:
  • Search Bar
  • Index of Buildings/Places
  • “Get Directions”
  • GPS/GEO-based “You Are Here”
• Add light CMS for front-end user changes and back-end admin mods.
• Add user-created layers, categorized by groups (e.g., faculty/staff, visitor and student parking, campus tour, dining, points of interest, etc.).
• Allow for “street views” via native Google Maps

The result will be a faster, lighter, mobile-friendly set of maps that will allow users to find just what they need quickly and painlessly.  We are always open to your thoughts and ideas, so feel free to share. There is even word of possible collaboration with University of Notre Dame’s AgencyND and Missouri State University’s Web & New Media Office on an open-source Google Maps platform.  After all, they were responsible for inspiring our redesign.

Related posts:

1. Campus maps nearing launch

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing via rss feed or email to have future articles delivered to you.