Source code: ebradley_floormap_proj3
CONCEPT:
For the 3rd class project, I wanted to further explore the idea of the locational aspect of the library transactions. Each item that is checked out is linked to its shelf location and over the span of the day, certain areas of the library are more active, which can translate into a tangible physical experience for visitors. Considering that we are living in an increasingly specialized world, I decided to take this notion to the extreme and focus on a very specific audience: the enochlophobiac bibliophile, lover of libraries and fearful of crowds.
To create a visualization to explore these features, I geocoded one day of checkout transactions (5 January 2009) for all checked out books. To geocode the books with respect to their shelf location, I utilized the Seattle Public Library search interface. For each item, I performed a search on the title and then referred to the online shelf map for the location (catalog.spl.org). In order to automate this, I utilized Matlab code to generate the title search queries and retrieve the html source code for each stage of the search process based on element tags. For each book, the referring shelf map filename was recorded. There are a total of 85 shelf map images, with maps for the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th levels. The 85 shelf maps with highlighted sections were downloaded and the background was made transparent. For a number of maps (particulary for the 7th level), the red highlight was not present for the first GIF layer, so the image had to be manually reconstructed.
The design of the interface is simple, with each location map recalled on a transaction basis and displayed with a low alpha value.
DEVELOPMENT IMAGES:
My first idea was to focus on the words in the titles and also bring in flocking behavior to simulate the patrons behavior.
Final product intro screen.
After progression.
INSPIRATION:
