Services Rendered:
Our Services
The Project:
Auckland City Council engaged Terabyte to integrate the
Google Maps API into their existing website, a unique project which
our development team found particularly enjoyable. The solution
allows the council to illustrate and contextualise the large number
of facilities and services they provide to the public, and
functions as a portal to website content relevant to each facility
or service.
A secondary but equally important objective was to make it
easier for the public to locate these facilities and services in
the real world. For a single specific location, the council can add
a dedicated map to the page, enabling their users to enter any
location from which they would like directions - which are then
provided in a print-friendly layout ready to be used right
away.
Auckland City Council's brief was to provide a solution
that concentrated on optimum usability and accessibility (adherence
to all relevant E-Govt guidelines), foster a positive customer
experience and conform to existing brand guidelines. Loving a
challenge, we deployed a solution that delivered all of the above
and more, one of the most exciting innovations being clever use of
progressive enhancement - where our solution "looks" for specific
pieces of information such as a properly formatted address, and
inserts the map using Javascript with the relevant location
highlighted.
Progressive enhancement is excellent for standards
compliance, due to the graceful degradation back to plain
accessible HTML text for any user or device without Javascript
enabled. An added bonus is this meant no new learning for the
Council developers - our solution fit seamlessly into the site and
over the code which they were already using.
We have been excited to hear of the maps being used for
quickly alerting Aucklanders of traffic obstructions and
alternative routes, and of the success of custom functionality
which allows Auckland City Council to highlight not only single
points, but to "draw" lines and highlight entire regions within the
city as the need arises.