Week Eight

This week, a few minor bugs in the program were fixed. This includes the location of the pins for the buildings, as some of them were slightly off.

The floor plans were added to the Papadakis Integrated Science Building and the Academic Building. If either of these buildings are selected, the user can look at the floor plans, scroll through the different floors, and locate classrooms and bathrooms on each floor.

In addition, an evaluation form was made. This consists of a few statements asking the user if they thought the application was useful and if they would download the application if it were put on the market, as well as a  section to mention any ideas for improvements.

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Deborah Kapilow

Week Seven

Much progress was made in week 7. Longitude and latitude coordinates were coded into the application to allow the Google map to show the selected building. Descriptions and phone numbers will also be displayed when the building is selected. Program bugs were also fixed. For example, the building information now updates seamlessly.

Another feature of the application that is currently being developed is the ability of the user to hold his or her finger on a building to make a menu display both floor plans and building information options.

Ways to evaluate our application were also discussed. These ideas include asking Drexel visitors or students to find a specific room and then pose specific questions to them. This way the answers will be confined to a certain scope, thus making them easier to analyze.

Graphics were also developed. Figure 1 shows the pin that will denote selected buildings. Figure 2 shows a screen shot of the application at its current stage. Figure 3 shows how floor plans will be modified to allow for easy viewing of rooms. Multiple floor plans have been completed in this way.

Figure 1: Map Pin

Figure 2: Screen shot of application showing pins and on-screen menu

Figure 3: PISB Floor 1

Week Six

A lot of progress has been made on the programming of the application since last week. It now includes a full list of all the buildings to be included (Figure 1). This picture is a template for what will happen if you click on a building in this drop down list. As seen on top, a description, address, and phone number if available will show up dependent upon which building is selected. This will give the user the ability to scroll through the buildings and see a small description of what each one is or what it features. Figure 2 is what the map interface looks like up to this point. The Google map has been used and the user can either click on a building on the map or type a building into the search bar on top and the program will locate it for him or her. Figure 3 shows the home screen for the application.

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 2

With many recent issues with Photoshop, it was decided that an alternative photo editor should be used. Gimp was chosen, but this change has caused the photo editing to longer than anticipated. Progress is being made though.

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Deborah Kapilow

Week Five

Week Five Status:

• Floor plans obtained
• Started graphically modifying floor plans

                                                                                                                                                                         

In week five, floor plans were obtained for 49 Drexel buildings. These floor plans include academic buildings, the library, and residential buildings. Unfortunately, not all of the academic building floor plans include room numbers. This is an integral part of our application, so further research may have to be done to map out the rooms. Special thanks to Kim Miller in University Facilities for making these plans available.  

Progress has been made on modifying the floor plans in Photoshop. Classrooms on each floor will be highlighted and the room numbers will be written in large characters to make them easily visible, similar to the figure below.

 

After a discussion with Dr. Char, we learned that an application with essentially one building that displays floor plans will be sufficient for this project because of the limited amount of time. This is contingent upon the fact that we would be able to reproduce all of the other buildings on campus with the same out of work required for the initial building (i.e. the amount of work would increase linearly, not exponentially).

The application will still show relevant information, such as department and office locations, and hours. This information will be searchable through a bar at the top of the application.   

Week Four

Week Four Status:

• Information sheet on buildings completed
• Potential floor plans located
• Progress on Android App Development

                                                                                                                                                                         


The information sheet started in Week 3 is now complete. This includes a short description of each building, such as hours the building is open or the locations of points of interest such as certain departments or help centers depending on the building. When a building is selected in the Android application, this information will appear.

Potential floors plans have been found. Contact has been received from Kim Miller of University Facilities. Although they have not been seen yet, she says she has floor plans for the majority of the buildings and these floors plans can be copied for use in this application.

There has been some progress in the programming aspect of this application. The Google map of the campus has been implemented and a basic user interface has been added as well.

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Deborah Kapilow

Week Three

In week three, research on Drexel's campus continued. While some communications for floor plans are still ongoing, Recreation Center floor plans were obtained. Below is the first of three floors in the Recreation Center.

Drexel University Recreation Center: First Floor

The following website was also found: http://drexel.edu/facilities/design/, which allows users to view floor plans for many Drexel buildings. However, the quality of the images makes them illegible, so further work needs to be done to obtain quality prints. Emails to the appropriate departments currently remain unanswered.

Work has also begun to generate small descriptions and any relevant hours of each building. Any major department or office that the building houses is also being listed. This will make data entry relatively easy for future programming.

Basic programming is set to begin with a stock Drexel map until a suitable version can be obtained. Graphic design is also beginning on the floor plans to alter them to Drexel Interactive Map's specifications. The current plan includes highlighting a room when it is searched for, so outlines of each room will need to be made. It is expected that a rough prototype, complete with clickable buildings, will be operational in the coming weeks.

Week Two

For Week Two (4/11/2012 - 4/18/2012) , there was continued work with the Drexel Interactive Map application.

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Week Two Status:

• Project Overview finished
• Continued work in Eclipse for the Android Development
• Discussion with Drexel University continue in regards to obtaining blueprints.
• Continued research of campus buildings / facilities

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The Project Overview was finalized, which can be found by selecting the Project Overview tab at the top of the blog. The Project Overview outlines current and future goals for the application along with describing the intents of the application.

Programming with Android continued, mostly familiarizing with Android SDK. Nothing notable has been made, but knowledge within the programming environment has increased.

Unfortunately, DUMap was unable to obtain floor plans from a past project which would have assisted in mapping out the campus. Although, there was word back from Drexel University and specific buildings that the application would like to include. A large campus map that would show campus on a large, external scale is in the process of being obtained. That campus map looked similar to the following.

Drexel University Campus Map

The map above is most visually appealing and user friendly for the design. Using a regular Google map is inclusive of unnecessary marking and doesn't allow for the user to see as quality of a visual representation as the one depicted in the map above.

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Tucker Gemberling