By Stephen Cook
Google employees were at the college during the last week of January gathering information for new indoor maps. They will compile that data with floor plans to create interactive maps used to navigate campus.
“One of the things that we try to do is receive feedback from students, community members, employees on how we can improve,” said Sandra Warner, Deputy CIO/director, Administrative Computing Services, who headed up the project. “One of the challenges that the college has been facing for some time is way finding.”
In order to map out the area, Warner said the employees had to walk down the middle of the halls while their positions were tracked, essentially becoming the blue dots.
No cameras or large, special equipment was used in the process. Warner said the Google employees ultimately used their smartphones to do this.
The Google website provides more specifics about how people will be able to use this technology within the existing Google Maps application:
“Indoor floor plans are seamlessly integrated into Google Maps for desktop and Android and are automatically enabled when the user zooms in, and fade away when the map is zoomed out,” Google stated on its website.
Judi Reilly, advertising coordinator for the college, was in charge of overseeing that the floor plans were updated and developed for submission to Google. About 50 floor plans were sent in for the main buildings on campus, with each floor requiring its own plan.
Reilly says although it took a while to go through and update the Computer-Aided Design files, the process went smoothly.
“What we wanted to do was make sure we did our due diligence in terms of checking things out in terms of our design,” Reilly said. “What we wanted it to accomplish, what we didn’t want it to do, we kind of looked both ways.”
Although some have voiced concern regarding security and safety issues, Warner said room numbers will be displayed for classrooms and offices, instead of saying something like “Sandra Warner’s office.”
“The negotiation process we went through with Google was that we would retain control over what would actually get published out in those maps,” Warner said
Although there is no definite timeline, Warner said Google is currently combining the position data and the floor plans. According to Warner, the maps should be posted and available for use in the near future.
Google offered the services to the college, and there was no cost associated with the process.
With this technology, Warner said the college is looking forward to being able to provide a better experience for students and guests.
“It’s that whole challenge of […] trying to find ways to break down any barriers to people coming in, enjoying what JCCC has to offer,” Warner said. “However it is that we’re involved in helping people achieve their goals, we want to be able to do that.”
Contact Stephen Cook, copy editor, at scook35@jccc.edu.