Digital, interactive campus maps can be a crucial tool to communicate with all of your audiences. Students, alumni, and visitors alike will appreciate the ability to go beyond Google Maps when trying to find anything from athletics facilities to the financial aid office.
But implementing a basic digital map for your private or state university is not enough. Instead, you have to get your campus map details just right, ensuring that all users can find key campus locations easily and effectively. As you plan out your implementation, use this guide as a checklist to ensure that your team can consider all relevant campus map details.
1. A Streamlined Organizational System
Every good campus map starts with an organizational system that’s easy and intuitive for your audience. Maps serve different functions for each user. An alum won’t necessarily be looking for a printer, but they will be looking for a bookstore. Visitors to a concert might need to find the performing arts center quickly.
To improve the user’s experience, include simple organization and searchable features. We recommend using two search methods: browsing and filtering.
- Browsing appeals to casual viewers who may want to explore the area without a final destination.
- Filtering appeals to someone seeking a specific piece of information or location.
For users who are browsing, a visual representation of campus is crucial. A map of your main campus should clearly represent what users would see in front of them, along with labels of the individual areas like your parking garage or street names. For users looking to filter information for a specific purpose, the search function becomes vital. So does a way to organize information into clear categories such as academic buildings, administrative offices like human resources, campus life, and so on.
2. Building Names and Locations
Speaking of labels, how you list your buildings and key campus locations are crucial campus map details to consider. All of your streets, buildings, parking lots, landmarks, public safety information, and services like printing, Wi-Fi, ATMs, and other important information should have clear labels at their precise locations.
We recommend including popular, informal places such as quads, neighborhoods, or paths. Clearly designated visitor parking might seem obvious, but it can be easy to overlook in the midst of the various parking opportunities on campus.
To encourage further user exploration, locations should include descriptions with keywords and searchable descriptions such as building names (historical and current) and their function (like the administration building, education building, fine arts building, and so on). This more descriptive piece of the equation can ensure that an obscure office like the bursar or Title IX office gets more clarity while making each location easier to find via your campus map search.
3. Accessibility Features
Private and public universities have a clear responsibility to students and other visitors with disabilities. Part of that responsibility includes communicating clearly with your audience how they can access various buildings across campus and participate in university life, which is another core campus map detail to consider during your implementation.
Create your map with a category specifically connected to accessibility. Include information about accessible building entrances, ramps, elevators, and accessible routes. For example, how can visitors get to, park close to, and enter your alumni center or residence halls? Executed the right way, your digital map can answer this and any other accessibility-related questions.
4. Transportation Options
Especially on larger campuses, your campus map can be a central stop for students trying to understand how they can get around. Use it to show bus stops, shuttle routes, and other transportation information that can help them find their way to the health center, softball or lacrosse fields, dining hall, computer labs, and any other locations that might be relevant to them.
Even for small campuses, transportation is a crucial question. Show your students where they can park during visits or while living on campus. Admissions officers know how frequently the question of parking comes up with incoming students. Highlighting parking is a surprisingly helpful way to help turn your campus map into a powerful admissions tool.
5. Emergency Stations
According to the Clery Center’s 2024 Staying Safe on Campus guide, more than 80% of college students are concerned about their safety on campus. Chances are that for parents, where safety is a key consideration from the start of the college search, that number rises even higher. While your map alone cannot guarantee student safety, it can help to promote it when leveraged the right way.
Emergency stations are a perfect example of this type of campus map detail. Make them easy to find on your map, and you show just how much you prioritize safety. You can even link to them in communications with prospective students and parents to communicate that same priority to them more proactively.
6. Points of Interest and Landmarks
Chances are that your college campus will have plenty of interesting spots that interest both prospective students and visitors. For example, you might have monuments that remember moments in the school’s or country’s history, a rare book collection in your library, a research center with an exhibit for children, and more. Pointing them out on your map will help users orient themselves on campus and find what they’re looking for beyond the functional buildings.
You can even turn some of these points of interest and landmarks into a self-guided tour. For example, a tour of the monuments or historic buildings on campus can help alumni find their way around when they visit for homecoming or on their own time.
7. Navigational Tools and Legend
Beyond the typical campus map details your users will look for, they also need to navigate around your map easily. Start with making it simple for users to explore and seek out the information they need. Any navigational features should be clear and understandable. For example, the ability to zoom in closely should also come with an easy way to zoom back out or reset the image.
Don’t forget about the legend for your map, either. The legend is a familiar function to help those become better acquainted with your unique mapping system. The map’s legend should be included in both web and print versions. It should feature:
- An address (city and state or closest metropolitan area are suggested)
- Scale/size symbols
- Date of last revision
- Map owner’s contact information
- Links to additional information
- An invitation for feedback
An added benefit to legends within web-based maps is that it increases your search engine optimization by increasing the relevant terms displayed in search engine results.
8. Timely Events
To keep the map relevant, add new information and key points based on the academic calendar and events. Early in the term, highlight the offices, dorms, and lecture halls that new students and their parents most often look for in an orientation tour or list. As the term progresses, switch out information to include details about sporting events, exams, or commencement. Students (new and old) and visitors will appreciate pertinent information.
For events that draw in many unfamiliar visitors, add a welcome message to the map. Include information for event dates and times, inclement weather plans, parking, and accessibility routes. You can even create a new layer highlighting all relevant wayfinding information for your visitors.
Finally, consider using your campus map to highlight active construction zones and potential alternative routes. This allows your facilities office to leverage the map for communication while improving the user experience for your audiences.
9. Green Spaces and Trails
The green spaces and trails on and around your campus could be among the crucial campus map details you don’t think of but that your audience will appreciate. Outdoor areas can enhance the experience for those seeking leisure or recreational activities, whether they’re prospective students looking for a school that accommodates their hobbies or members of the local community.
Gen Z wants to get outside more than any other generation before them. Using your campus map to highlight your green spaces allows you to market your campus to the majority of students who are looking specifically for this type of information. With the right interactive tool, it can even create activity and running paths that users can follow along with on their mobile devices.
10. Restrooms
They might seem basic, but restrooms will always be in need on campus. New students and visitors unfamiliar with the spaces will frequently look for them. Your digital map can be an easy way to highlight them, showing visitors exactly where they need to go and creating a more convenient experience for them.
11. Interactive Elements
Finally, interactive elements can become a detail that elevates your campus map above others. These elements engage your users, helping them stay longer and use the tool more. Examples of interactive features for campus maps may be simple, like an integrated ability to request driving and walking directions. But they can also get more complex, like a live data feed for transit information that always lets your audience know when the next shuttle arrives.
Finally, an integrated inquiry form allows you to capture key contact information from users you can then reach out to with more specific and dedicated marketing information.
Bring Your Campus to Life with Concept3D
Getting your map done just right is a core part of communicating with audiences visiting your campus. The above campus map details can help you get there. They may extend your launch timeline for the map a bit, but they also ensure that your users have a positive experience and will always find what they’re looking for.
To get there, you need the right campus map solution. That’s where Concept3D enters the equation, with a map tool trusted by more than 600 higher education institutions. Ready to learn more? Request a demo today.