I’m lucky to be invited out to UBC tomorrow to give a little talk and meet with a few folks. I’ve been there maybe a half-dozen times but I really don’t know my way around the campus that well – it is truly immense! I was about to email my contact there to ask for direction, but then thought to check the university’s own website for maps.
Wow! Was I gald I did. I would have felt foolish to be asking after what I found at the Wayfinding at UBC site. The link above points to the final map I produced and printed – what I loved was the ability to plot not one but at least two distinct locations (and get directions between them if need be) and to add or subtract information to my final printout page (like closest parking, local details) if I wanted. I also loved they way they tied into Google where needed or where more appropriate.
Perhaps I don’t get on to enough campuses and the quality represented by this site is commonplace elsewhere and I just don’t realize it. But I think not – apparently the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education were also impressed enough to award it the 2004 Gold Prix d’Excellence for ‘Best Department or Program Site on the World Wide Web.’ And well deserved at that; the gold standard as far as I am concerned for helping people find their way around campus. (Have I just inevitably damned myself to be driving around downtown Surrey while my talk is going on though, I wonder 
– SWL
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