----------------------------Original message---------------------------- On Mon, 13 May 1996, Alex Barker wrote: > Please forgive me if this is a naive question, but it would simplify the > lives of the folks who use our maps if they could use a computer to > determine which map they need--perhaps they could click on an onscreen map > location and have the topographic map they need listed. I believe so and have been working several months on exactly such a program. What I've been working on amounts to a dynamic, interactive index map. There are a number of problems I've encountered. First is that rapidly generating the base map is non trivial when you can go from a whole world view down to an area of several miles. At the latter end, quite a bit of detail is needed to provide sufficient reference points. The second issue is that paper index maps typically only cover one, or a very few, homogenous series. When you try to display variety of series from a large collection (I'm working with the AGS catalog plucked from geodex), the display rapidly degenerates into a muddle. I'm currently exploring ways to use a textual listing of maps covering in tandem with a graphical display. Any brilliant insights into this are most welcome! The other direction I'd like to take this is to wire it up as a z39.50 client. If a traditional MARC based catalog were equipped with an efficient coordinate index, and accurate coordinate information were present in the records, you could have precicse coordinate searching and graphical browsing while still being able to leverage the benefits of shared cataloging through services such as OCLC or WLN and whatever other benefits of sharing the catalog with the rest of the institution bring. After all, maps are just the tip of the iceberg when you start taking about the utility of georeferencing information. -john == [log in to unmask] =========================================== == http://fallout.campusview.indiana.edu/~jfieber ================