Seeing the state has never been easier, thanks to the yearlong efforts of a handful of University students and staff.
An interactive digital CD-ROM version of Atlas of Oregon, the best-selling and award-winning atlas published last year, was released Monday, putting some of the state’s sights and historical facts just a click away.
“We’ve taken a really great book and made it better,” said Tom Hager, acting director of the UO Press, which published the Atlas CD-ROM. “No other state has an atlas this comprehensive and technologically advanced.”
The CD-ROM allows users to use search functions to browse the atlas almost like a Web site rather than through sequential map exploration, lead project designer Erik Steiner said. But, he added, it is even better because users don’t get lost.
The group worked on the project using a process called visualization, which involves changing paper maps into a digital,interactive format, Steiner said.
“In our design, we let the viewer decide how to interact with the data by giving options for presentation of the information and opportunities to dig deeper into areas of interest,” InfoGraphics Laboratory Director Jim Meacham said.
The CD-ROM offers even more features than the print version of the atlas, such as aerial photographs and maps that allow users to zoom in and out, Hager said. Higher resolution even allows users to see individual trees or neighborhood blocks in the Portland area, he added.
Other features include directions and exact distances from one location to another. Examples include hiking trails, rivers and other water features, mountains and almost every town in the state.
The project, done entirely on campus, was a collective effort by staff and students. The project brought in eight hired student
designers, Steiner said.
“They just knocked themselves out,” Hager said.
The CD-ROM could become an important teaching tool because teachers can specifically design their lesson plans by using the different categories available, InfoGraphics Laboratory cartographer Mike Engelmann said. Public schools have been given samples of the CD-ROM, and may implement it in their curricula, he added.
The project is so innovative, Engelmann said, that he hopes other states will follow their lead.
The Atlas of Oregon CD-ROM is available for $49.95 at the University of Oregon Bookstore and other bookstores around town.