Atlas Features I'd Love to See

[Lawson Stone]

I love the Atlas, and its power & sophistication lead me to wish for some specific functions:

• being able to create custom, scalable site lists based on coordinates, with the taxonomy of size and a typology of site types, such as all Iron IB enclosure sites larger than 1 acre;
• not limiting available sites to biblical sites, but general ancient Near Eastern history/archaeology
• full topographic features: elevation lines, the ability to draw/highlight areas above, below, between certain elevations, i.e. all Iron I sites above 600 meters elevation
• The Jersusalem map needs work; just zooming in on Jerusalem doesn't provide the detail needed. Jerusalem is worth a very sophisticated, separate layer or set in the maps
• ability to edit the main sites data-sometimes scholarship shifts on locations and it would be useful to be able to adjust the maps accordingly when there are more than one possibility
• Display of highways: I'd love to see a hierarchy and typology of routes/highways allowing custom display of routes

I actually think the power for these features is already there in the module, but how to allow users to generate and use the data, creating importable data, would be the key.

 

 

[Michael J. Bolesta]

Lawson

 

Intriguing ideas. Perhaps improvement in the UI could be added as well. One of your related posts commented on the some of the less than intuitive nature of the Atlas (Joe Weaks' comment on the very steep learning curve is apropos to user customization: http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9605).

[Alistair]

I am secretly hoping that there will be major updates to the Atlas (and the Timeline), hopefully soon.

[Lawson Stone]

I'd love to see some major updates too, but also I'm realizing how much is in there that I still don't know how to use. A lot of stuff I'd like is probably already possible if I could just mine the features better. I just watched the two videos on the Atlas and much was clarified. I think being able to add coordinate-based sites to the database, or perhaps as added databases, would be the thing I'd like the most.

[Timothy Jenney]

I'd love to see better coverage of archaeological sites.

 

In fact, wouldn't it be cool to have 3D representations of some of the major sites? With layers, of course, which could be removed at will. Each layer of course, would have an accurate layout of the buildings, artifacts, and other archaeological finds.

 

OK, I suspect I may get in trouble here—or worse yet, assigned to create such a module myself!

[Helen Brown]

Pending the implementation of all these cool ideas, which is not likely to happen soon, remember that the Carta materials have detailed maps of Jerusalem in many eras, and many other maps as well as information. Of course those maps are not interactive nor customizable, but they can be exported.

[Lawson Stone]

that's true, but I've become rather addicted to the visual style of the Accordance maps! That interactivity and customization is what is so amazing. But recently I've learned of so many things that actually can be done that I thought couldn't, I'm back in a learning mode with the program so…not sweating over those other things.

[Timothy Jenney]

Sorry, Helen, just dreaming...

[fmcfee]

 

Hi everyone,

 

I really love the interactive map and timeline!!!!!.....I would like to see the "instant details" show elevation, etc when in the 3D model....I also would like to see as many sites added as possible.....for the timeline add a special "church fathers" their writings, dates of MSS, paypri, etc would be "a nice to have"......

 

Frank

[craigminah]

Sounds like some of you are suggesting Accordance incorporate some form of Geographic Information System (GIS) which would be handy but may complicate the Atlas too much.

[Timothy Jenney]

That link's a great read! Imagine what such an integrated system could do for biblical studies.

[Ken Simpson]

Oh yes +++++ . As a mapoholic I could spend way too many hours with that sort of integrated tool.

[Timothy Jenney]

For those of us that are both technophiles and archaeology buffs, there are few experiences that can rival giza3d.3ds.com/#discover —or so I am told.

 

Unfortunately, I am new to Windows 8 and to Parallels, both of which are running on my MBP. That means I have had trouble viewing the site properly. However, it is a current example of a 3D representation of a biblical archaeological site (Giza). This is the kind of work I foresee as having major benefits for our field. Few students (or scholars, for that matter) can take the time to travel to Egypt and explore Giza at their leisure.

 

As the number of these kinds of websites increases, I'd love to see a way of accessing them through the Accordance Atlas. The Atlas already provides virtual 3D views of terrain. Embedding 3D views of sites and important buildings in the atlas would allow us to move from macro to micro views, tremendously enhancing the user experience.

 

Anyone want to donate a million dollars (or euros or pounds, we aren't picky) to the project?