Using Interactive Maps in Community Applications

Interactive maps provide unique ways to support community applications. In particular, they enable new collaborative activities. Map-based navigation supports a community environment as well as virtual tours. Interactive maps can also function as a tool in collecting historical information and discussing new spatial layouts. These examples indicate the numerous opportunities for interactive maps to support collaboration

Map-Based Navigation in a Graphical MOO

Traditional MUDs and MOOs lack support for global wareness and simple navigation. These problems can be addressed by the introduction of a map-based navigation tool. In this paper we report on the design and evaluation of such a tool for MOOsburg, a graphical 2D MOO based on the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. The tool supports exploration and place-based tasks in the MOO. It also allows navigation of a large-scale map and encourages users to develop survey knowledge of the town. An evaluation revealed some initial usability problems with our prototype and suggested new design ideas that may better support users. Using these results, the lessons learned about map-based navigation are presented