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AJAX Campus Tour

The new campus tour was created to launch with the new site.  In order to create a media-rich tour with low load times, AJAX was employed to make sure that only the necessary objects were loaded at any given moment.  The tour starts with an introduction from a current student in flash video, and then the user can select a location from the map or the set of images.

After a user selects a location to view, it is highlight on the map and the first available piece of media for that location is displayed.  Because the tour is entirely database driven, media objects can be added or removed at will without making any changes to the actual page.

Panoramas are handled through a Java browser that has a few unique features, including full-screen viewing and lens flares for intense light sources.

Although there's currently only one video (the introduction video), plans call for a video to be produced for each stop on the tour.  Shooting is slated to begin at the start of the fiscal year since it will require an outside contractor.

To view the campus tour, please visit http://www.drew.edu/discoverdrew/default.aspx?id=2862.