AccessMap

Thu (Jackie) Le - Senior Project

Summary

The DePauw University campus, like many other college campuses, is expansive and consists of 36 buildings across 695 acres. Therefore, navigating through the campus can be challenging, especially for people with physical disabilities. While DePauw does make an effort to make its infrastructure accommodating to those with disabilities, these features might not be obvious or easy to find, resulting in difficulties getting around campus. Many students have reported having difficulty finding accommodations for their needs on campus. AccessMap is a web application designed to assist users in navigating the accessibility features at DePauw University. The website offers a detailed map of each building’s accessibility options, with markers highlighting key amenities such as elevators, ramps, and automatic doors. Each marker represents the relative location of the feature in the building and comes with brief descriptions, pictures, and reviews. AccessMap’s database is crowdsourced, relying on the DePauw community to upload information on available amenities. When accessing AccessMap, users can search the building they want to learn more about and click on a marker to see pictures of the feature, available descriptions, reviews, and ratings. Users can submit information to add another accessibility feature to the map, as well as descriptions and reviews for each accessibility feature, to enhance the map.

Technical Specifications

• User account system that allows users to register and log in using their depauw.edu email addresses.
• Users can create an account, log in, and log out.
• Once logged in, they can upload information about accessibility features, such as elevators, ramps, and automatic doors, by placing markers on the campus map. Each feature submission can include a description, a photo, and user reviews.
• Users without an account can still view the map and its features but cannot contribute data.
• Include search functionality, enabling users to locate specific buildings and view the accessibility features associated with each. Users can search by building name.
• Logged-in users can submit ratings and reviews for each accessibility feature, helping others assess the quality of these amenities.
• AccessMap supports mobile responsiveness and allows users to see their current location and navigate to nearby accessibility features.