Find your way with the new campus map
Admit it: Sometimes it’s hard to find your way around UCLA’s sprawling 419-acre campus. But finding your way is now a lot easier, thanks to a sophisticated new online campus map based on the same GIS (Geographic Information System) used by other online mappers, like Google.
The new map is the product of more than two years of work by a team in the General Services Department led by Jack Tchilingirian, associate director of General Services Information Systems. UCLA’s
new online map opens a wider window onto the campus, incorporating layers of useful information and greatly enhanced tools for searching through that information. The map also has the built-in potential to keep getting better.
The previous campus map was online, too, Tchilingirian noted, but it was basically a static page with links to additional information. “It was a great map for the time,” he said, “using all the tools we had at the time.” Created more than five years ago – a near-eternity in cybertime – it didn’t include things like the names of campus buildings, and the web page couldn’t be printed. Problems like these drew many “comments” over the years, Tchilingirian said. Meanwhile, he added, “Google maps and others have pushed the envelope as to the state of the technology.”
Drawing on campus comments and inviting additional contributions, General Services created a “wish list” from which to build a new map.
The biggest transformation was the GIS-based approach, said James Lazear, director of Facilities Management. “Once we started looking at GIS and its extraordinary precision, we discovered there’s a lot more possible,” Lazear said. “When you know that this is where the spot called UCLA is on the Earth, and we can describe that spot, it changes everything about how we approached this project.”
The map was built upon the already-existing foundation of the campus space inventory website, which campus planners use to track every square foot of space, from grassy quads to stories-high laboratory buildings. David Yamamoto, the hands-on technology expert who built the map, expanded upon that private database to capture the “UCLA footprint.” From there, he added more detailed information and color-coded all of it for optimal user-friendliness.
Online users will find the map has a look and feel similar to other online maps. For example, arrows let you pan up, down, right and left, and a clickable zoom feature gives you a close-up or farther-out view.
All campus buildings and their names are included, as well as everything from color-coded parking lots (gray) to swimming pools (blue). Using a drop-down menu, you can search by building names or points of interest – and not only will this zero in on your search term but will also bring up a photo and details.
There are also links to Google and MSN maps and – perhaps best of all – driving directions not just to campus, but through campus.
Previously, said Tchilingirian, “For Google and MSN, our campus was like a black hole,” not plotting streets internal to campus. “If you wanted to come here, you’d be lucky to get to campus, much less into campus.”
And beyond what standard street maps do, the new campus tool maps out all the pathways on campus, enabling you to find your way much more easily from one campus location to another.
The map also features several overlays – detailed maps of features such as parking lots as well as the location of the closest parking kiosk to purchase parking for each lot. Other overlays include campus shuttle bus routes, emergency services and evacuation routes. There are even detailed handicap accessibility routes that include the exact locations of accessible spaces in parking lots, accessibility paths and building entrances. With the click of a button, any of these overlays can be superimposed onto the basic campus map. There’s also an option to switch to an aerial view of campus.
The new map is also printable from whatever particular perspective you’re viewing, including any of the overlays. For example: Pauley Pavilion with accessibility routes marked (below, right).
You can overlay additional information using the online map, such as the accessibility information seen above.
The accuracy of the new map is one of its biggest benefits, said Lazear.
“Being a geo-referenced map, all the buildings are accurate to about a meter or at most a meter-and-a-half,” he said. “Eventually we’ll get GPS (Global Positioning System) readings so we can get down to sub-foot accurate.”
That degree of accuracy probably doesn’t mean much to the average map user, but it is essential when – as is envisioned for the near future – the map incorporates detailed information customized for individual departments.
“The map details – this is where a lot of the real magic happens,” said Tchilingirian. “Eventually we want to be able to provide this as a service for people to build on; an up-to-date map that they can build their own transparency on top of. They won’t have to re-create the whole map themselves.”
Additional overlays could include, for example, the exact locations of every fire hydrant on campus – information which the UCLA Fire Department could share with its LAFD colleagues in the event that other fire departments need to come on campus. The Fire Department could also use this mapped information to manage fire hydrant maintenance, creating a database with a history of water pressure test results.
“We see the map as a graphical collaboration tool,” said Tchilingirian. Added Lazear, “We’re hopeful that our campus partners will see this map as an engine to help them do their job better.”
Mapping can also aid campus problem-solving. For example, if the UCLA Police Department maps all of its emergency call boxes, it could overlay a second map of recent crime areas and, from both of these viewed together, determine whether call boxes are in the areas where they’re most likely needed.
The map team is also working with the campus Events Office to develop ways of combining maps with detailed information about each event.
“It’s all about potential,” said Yamamoto. “As we talk to people they say, ‘Oh, we could map out all the species of trees on campus. Or go to the botanical garden and map out all the species of plants.’ Whatever you want to see visualized on the map … it’s up to your imagination. The sky’s the limit.”
Since the campus map is a project-in progress, its developers welcome users’ comments and suggestions. Please e-mail
Spaceinv@facnet.ucla.edu.
