Mapit!

This digital map displays an interactive map of the walking path at Picton Botanical Gardens. It reads a set of data from a file, then plots the data on the maIf you click on the edge of the map it will generate the next segment of the path. You may have to wait for it to generate the new segment.

Features:

• Can plot multiple lines in different colours on the same map;
• Features 13 different symbols, which can be plotted at any angle or distance relative to the map;
• Map can be scrolled up or down, left or right, so you can see the map more easily (than if the map had to be put on the screen all at once). You scroll the map by clicking the far top, far left or right, or far bottom of the map.
• The map can be zoomed in or out by quite a large amount;
• Coordinates and symbols can be shown or hidden.

How the data file works:

• You only need a compass, a pad and pencil, and a pedometer to count your steps.
• Assuming you are following a path, road, or track, you check your starting point, then use your compass to specify the angle
  of the path ahead. You write down the angle, and note any scenery, and it’s direction from the path, that you find at this position.
• You follow the path, counting your steps, until the path turns. You write down how many steps you took and the angle of the pathahead.
• You repeat the previous step until you reach the end of the path, or where you want to stop.
• This data is then entered into a file in a defined format, then Mapit! will draw the map.

The map you see when you click “Mapit!” above is of our local Botanical Gardens walking track, created my me and my mum over a series of days.

This work is completed using a Java derivative called ‘Processing’.