Application Areas
TMJava can be used to develop interactive maps for web sites, for intranet enquiry systems, for museum and visitor kiosks, and for standalone CD-ROM products. In addition to static datasets, TMJava can connect with databases which are being actively updated or with live data feeds. Examples of all of these are included in our Applications and Examples pages.
TMJava has been used in a wide range of application areas. These include, in no particular order:
- Indexing and cataloguing library resources
- Educational encyclopaedias
- Census data and social indicators
- Environmental, seismic and climate data
- Finding aerial and satellite imagery
- Delivering tourist information
- Displaying live traffic flows
- Displaying mobile network faults
- Inventorying sound recordings
- Mapping archaeological and heritage sites
- Inventorying theatrical performances
- Historical and contemporary image collections
- Indexing and finding cultural facilities
- Mapping historical and contemporary journeys
- Displaying the results of spatial analyses and simulations
- Finding services through a map interface
Interactive web maps
The TimeMap Project's time-enabled Java map viewer, TMJava, can be embedded in any web page as an interface to map data on your web site and/or to internet-accessible datasets, providing an immediate online interactive mapping capability without installation of any complex or expensive software on your web server.
TMJava is an intelligent client which downloads vector and raster data and, in addition to zooming and panning etc, can handle temporal filtering, data-driven hotlinks and access to distributed datasets indexed by a central metadata clearinghouse. For an overview of functions see the Capabilities page.
The Applications page includes examples of online maps developed using the TimeMap TMJava Map Viewer.
Museum installations
To custodians of cultural resources such as historical photos, maps, records of Buddhist art or monuments, TimeMap offers a, low-cost solution for managing, delivering and interpreting historical information, image portfolios and museum collections through interactive multi-media kiosks as well as on the Web.
TimeMap kiosk software allows users to navigate to particular parts of a map, choose a time period of interest and click on points to see written accounts, census records, paintings or other audio-visual information about that place at that particular time.
Visitor kiosks can be developed for specific archaeological or historic sites at any scale, and might incorporate 3D models and video as well as detailed scholarly information about the site. The interface can be readily customised to adopt a different layout, logos etc. for different applications.
The TimeMap interface (optionally) logs and time stamps all interactions with the user interface (buttons pressed, layers selected etc.) so that patterns of user interaction can be logged and analysed. This provides Museum managers/ Interpretive designers with valuable feedback such as which parts of the data are most often accessed, how long people look at different topics, how long they use the software etc.
Sydney TimeMap : In November 2000 a pilot stand-alone kiosk was opened in the Museum of Sydney's Information Centre. The Sydney TimeMap installation used TimeMap software within a shell written in Macromedia Director, to provide dual-screen multimedia kiosk access to historical data about the growth of Sydney.
Information kiosks
TimeMap software can also be used to develop public-access kiosks for non-cultural data, such as information on National Parks, public transport timetables by time and location, hotels and restaurants with links to descriptions, photographs and menus, or other businesses.
TimeMap has been used in kiosks set up to support enquiries about the Parramatta Historical and Archaeological Landscape Management Study (PHALMS) at the Parramatta City Council and the offices of NSW Heritage.
CD-ROM products
TimeMap TMJava is ideally suited to creating standalone CD-ROM products displaying complex databases through a map interface embedded in web pages, requiring only a standard browser for access. TMJava can handle large spatial databases and huge scanned maps or aerial/satellite images thanks to its support for tiled 'Zoomify' (R) images.
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