![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI've decided to use the UEA as an alien planet so I poked the internet to find a map.
... not that I'm ever going to be able to film things there but I can make an RPG outline or something.
... okay, it's about as relevant as spaceship design, but relaxing.
http://www.uea.ac.uk/about/gettinghere/map is the interactive UEA map.
Has whoever made that actually tried to use it? Almost all the little paddle shapes pop up balloons you can't actually read because the writing is not in fact inside the balloon. Although to be fair trying them again from a different zoom or map view sometimes puts the words back in the bubble again.
Satellite view is all very well, but not very informative. Map view is slightly more readable.
But all the bubbles are full of advertising blurbs. Like,
You're looking at the map. Surely more useful would be (a) how many floors there are (b) where the doors are at and (c) where's the loos.
Actually, there's more serious reasons to be looking for maps than mine. Where are the disabled loos? There should be a map with that marked on, surely? But noooooo. There is, to their credit, a list of disabled loos, and you could certainly take that and mark up a map accordingly. But why on Earth have they not done that already at the University end? Everyone wants to know where the loos are! It's the most widely useful thing.
There's another campus map pdf. And I remain baffled by how many places use sodding pdfs when all they actually need is a decent sized jpg. Is there any browser that cannot handle image files? And whilst usually I do know that having the writing be highlightable and presumably readable for blind people is A Good Thing, it's a map. There's sod all information on there actually useable to blind people. ... probably. Correct me if there's actual advantages to pdfs. I just know I have to give them security permissions every time and sometimes the virus checker jumps on fancy pages and doesn't want to let me.
I did find some floor plans for student accommodation. Not maps, saying where the rooms are, but floor plans, showing that the room you are renting has enough room to both have a bed and open a door. They were also pdfs. For why? There weren't even writing on them!
The campus map with the nice colors is a bit more readable than the interactive one.
But it still doesn't tell you where the loo is. And while it has little wheelchair symbols to mean disabled access, it doesn't show you what it is access to. Nearby buildings? The nearest road? Most of the campus is made of steps, so both of those would be useful data, but it's not useful data encoded on the map.
City College maps have been getting ever more useless. And ever harder to find, ffs, I've just wasted ten minutes looking for one. It's not like it's not needed. They have a huge great one printed out and laminated on the front desk. Even people who've been there ten years need to consult it on occasion (me, yesterday, because we're in a whole new building). But can I find such a thing on the website? Can I heck. But! When there was one, when I can find it, or in the depths of my assorted computers, it had the toilets marked. Because useful.
And no map, or at least none I can find, gives you a hint of a clue how tall the stupid buildings are, or where, or indeed if, there are lifts. And as for finding individual room numbers, well, go for a wander on roughly the right floor, you'll find them eventually.
The only place I could find floor plans for is the UEA library, which very much needs them so I'm grateful and all but really, what about everywhere else?
... did I say this was relaxing? Er, yeah. Oops?
I don't think it's an unreasonable standard of information to want, a little picture outline that tells you where the loos are and indicates how many floors there are and what number rooms are on each floor. So if you're looking for B28 you know where to go. Or whatever the UEA room numbering system is like. I've seen maps like that for museums, and people pay much less to go to museums.
Giving it in text form is nice, and sometimes available, but still, maps are of the good.
... not that I'm ever going to be able to film things there but I can make an RPG outline or something.
... okay, it's about as relevant as spaceship design, but relaxing.
http://www.uea.ac.uk/about/gettinghere/map is the interactive UEA map.
Has whoever made that actually tried to use it? Almost all the little paddle shapes pop up balloons you can't actually read because the writing is not in fact inside the balloon. Although to be fair trying them again from a different zoom or map view sometimes puts the words back in the bubble again.
Satellite view is all very well, but not very informative. Map view is slightly more readable.
But all the bubbles are full of advertising blurbs. Like,
School of Biological Sciences
Recognised as one of the UK's top biology departments, the School of Biological Sciences has been rated 'Excellent' for the quality of teaching and research.
You're looking at the map. Surely more useful would be (a) how many floors there are (b) where the doors are at and (c) where's the loos.
Actually, there's more serious reasons to be looking for maps than mine. Where are the disabled loos? There should be a map with that marked on, surely? But noooooo. There is, to their credit, a list of disabled loos, and you could certainly take that and mark up a map accordingly. But why on Earth have they not done that already at the University end? Everyone wants to know where the loos are! It's the most widely useful thing.
There's another campus map pdf. And I remain baffled by how many places use sodding pdfs when all they actually need is a decent sized jpg. Is there any browser that cannot handle image files? And whilst usually I do know that having the writing be highlightable and presumably readable for blind people is A Good Thing, it's a map. There's sod all information on there actually useable to blind people. ... probably. Correct me if there's actual advantages to pdfs. I just know I have to give them security permissions every time and sometimes the virus checker jumps on fancy pages and doesn't want to let me.
I did find some floor plans for student accommodation. Not maps, saying where the rooms are, but floor plans, showing that the room you are renting has enough room to both have a bed and open a door. They were also pdfs. For why? There weren't even writing on them!
The campus map with the nice colors is a bit more readable than the interactive one.
But it still doesn't tell you where the loo is. And while it has little wheelchair symbols to mean disabled access, it doesn't show you what it is access to. Nearby buildings? The nearest road? Most of the campus is made of steps, so both of those would be useful data, but it's not useful data encoded on the map.
City College maps have been getting ever more useless. And ever harder to find, ffs, I've just wasted ten minutes looking for one. It's not like it's not needed. They have a huge great one printed out and laminated on the front desk. Even people who've been there ten years need to consult it on occasion (me, yesterday, because we're in a whole new building). But can I find such a thing on the website? Can I heck. But! When there was one, when I can find it, or in the depths of my assorted computers, it had the toilets marked. Because useful.
And no map, or at least none I can find, gives you a hint of a clue how tall the stupid buildings are, or where, or indeed if, there are lifts. And as for finding individual room numbers, well, go for a wander on roughly the right floor, you'll find them eventually.
The only place I could find floor plans for is the UEA library, which very much needs them so I'm grateful and all but really, what about everywhere else?
... did I say this was relaxing? Er, yeah. Oops?
I don't think it's an unreasonable standard of information to want, a little picture outline that tells you where the loos are and indicates how many floors there are and what number rooms are on each floor. So if you're looking for B28 you know where to go. Or whatever the UEA room numbering system is like. I've seen maps like that for museums, and people pay much less to go to museums.
Giving it in text form is nice, and sometimes available, but still, maps are of the good.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-09 07:21 pm (UTC)By way of comparison:
Map of Paris 8 campus
maps of Hebrew U
"Accessibility" map of Mt. Scopus campus of the Heb. U.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-09 10:40 pm (UTC)that's a lot of very wiggly edges on the buildings there.
I'm trying to figure out what would need to be drawn that way and not coming up building shaped.
The Paris map has up and down showing and things look building shaped.
still looks complicated.
*facepalm* at saving money on signs. That's some special planning.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-10 12:38 pm (UTC)There's also an interactive "tour of the campus", where you can see all the visuals and navigate the paths and corridors (sort of like on google maps in street view). Could be very useful, but my computer doesn't like it.