placeMap [building community through active context mapping]

Dates

January — December 2005

Principal Investigator

Matthew Hockenberry (PI) with Robert Gens

Problem

There's a lot going on in your life. How do you decide to spend your time? For most of us we try to find things to do that we enjoy, but its not always easy to know what's available.

Goal

We are creating a web application that builds a community through an understanding of a user's context in an active spatial landscape. Beginning with the traditional campus map, placeMap reimagines what a map should be by placing the user's community life at the center of the map.

Overview

Utilizing a rich store of information about university community members and groups, placeMap builds an interactive experience through the dynamic presentation of a user's classes, meetings, parties and trips. While many attempts at building "interactive campus maps" focus on the display of static information, placeMap is a realization of the ever-changing campus environment. Each user's placeMap is unique, drawing on an understanding of who the user is, where he or she is coming from, and what that person wants to do. A user's placeMap begins with authentication into the system. From that point the system draws information from its databases, interprets that data, and displays these opportunities in relevant ways.

Project Output

Publications

"placeMap: building community through active context mapping. " Hockenberry, M. Gens, R., and Selker, T. (2005) To appear in proc. of ACM SIGGRAPH '05 Web Application Program.Conference Site

Links

PlaceMap

Graphics