Transcript Session material (ppt

Bridge Tracker
bridges.msnbc.com
bridges.msnbc.com
The plan
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Context: the story
Using the Bridge Tracker
How it was built
Tensions: Tool much info or too little?
Raw data for a single bridge…
0692700521210010100404100000GOLDEN GATESAN FRAN BAY U.S. HIGHWAY 101 04-MRN-101L.01 999900000101000000101013749120012228
36000641323212193706001080001999003350001
001121067109999A5531331100300101891280502
7903032032018902849999N0000N0000008165713
9492N585381027423040424NNN065486006549098
22919991N210000056000202Y817990020200000N
N1190212070722FC11930720971220589
… that’s a year late for inspection
A school bus on its morning run approaches a 107-yearold steel truss bridge near Circleville, Ohio. The
fracture-critical span was one of at least 17,000 bridges
in the U.S. that went more than two years between
inspections. The county engineer said he saved about
$200 by putting off its checkup.
Using the Bridge Tracker
Find bridges along a route
See details on condition, inspection
Navigation: Enter a new route
Navigation: Filter on bridge condition
Navigation: Filter by inspection late
How it was built
GOAL:
Understand how the application works
by learning about each of the components
and how they work together
Tools
Programming:
Other tools:
Client-side (front end)
1. CSS
2. HTML
3. Javascript
Microsoft Virtual Earth
Microsoft MapPoint Web Service*
Server-side (back end)
1. C#
*=
Timeline
- About three months total; two months development
- Factors (excuses)
- No real news peg
- Didn’t want to rush it
- Idea kept evolving
- Learning new languages/technologies*
- Proxy*
Application flow
1. Start and end locations are sent to the proxy, along
with search criteria
2. Proxy passes that information to MapPoint WS
3. MapPoint calculates route, then searches data set for
bridges that match search criteria and are near route
4. List of matching bridges is returned, including
latitude and longitude for each
5. MapPoint sends the list back through the proxy
6. Bridge Tracker receives the list (in XML format),
then plots each bridge and sets its info
Components: Data set
- Database from National Bridge
Inventory
- Uploaded to MapPoint WS and set
as data source
- Doesn’t need to be geocoded prior
to upload
Components: MapPoint Web Service
- Offers location-based services
such as maps, directions and
proximity searches
- In this case, calculates a route and
finds bridges within a certain
distance of that route
- Con: a bit pricey
Components: MapPoint Web Service
Components: Proxy
- Allows us to talk to a web service
outside of our domain
- Acts as the “middleman” between
the Bridge Tracker and MWS
- Necessary for us, but not you
- Could be built using C, ASP, PHP,
Java, Ruby…any other server-side
language
Components: Map application
- “Front end” - what the user
interacts with
- CSS/HTML for design and layout
- Javascript (AJAX) for functionality
- Virtual Earth in our case, but
doesn’t have to be
Code review?
Resources
MapPoint Web Service
MapPoint home - http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/products/webservice/default.mspx
Fully-functional demo applications - http://demo.mappoint.net/
Software Development Kit (SDK) - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb507684.aspx
Virtual Earth
Interactive SDK - http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/
Code reference - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb429619.aspx
Help and “hacks” - http://viavirtualearth.com/vve/Dashboard/Default.ashx
Anything else – [email protected]
Tensions
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Usability
Depth
Limitations
Dirty data
Culture clash?
Culture clash?
Phil is on the right.
Culture clash?
Phil is on the right. (My right.)
Tensions
– Usability: Who are we designing for?
Where do I start?
If you need instructions…
User feedback
alphachannel.msnbc.msn.com
Tensions
– Usability: Who are we designing for?
– Depth: Too much information?
As proposed: 27 facts
As built: 12 facts
Tensions
– Usability: Who are we designing for?
– Depth: Too much information?
– Limitations: Can 100,000 be too few bridges?
“Useless”
“The problem with your bridge tracker is that
the definition of what bridges show up (with
over X amount of traffic) makes it nonfunctional for most of the country. … What a
useless tool.”
John from Bloomington
bridges.msnbc.com
Tensions
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Usability: Who are we designing for?
Depth: Too much information?
Limitations: Too few bridges?
Dirty data: How deal with this?
Dirty data
“Not as good as we thought.”
Thomas D. Everett
bridges team leader
Federal Highway Administration
Bridge Tracker 2.0
– More bridges?
– Search nearby?
– Database lookup?
Credits
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Interactive editor: Phil Zepeda
Designer: Julie Yokers
Reporting and data analysis: Bill Dedman
Director of interactive projects: Paige West
Projects editor: Michael Brunker
Special thanks to Anthony Baker, Mike Simon,
Caleb Thompson
bridges.msnbc.com
[email protected]
[email protected]