Graduation season is here.
Around the country, thousands of high school and college students are moving on to the next chapter in their lives. Graduation is a special and exciting time for faculty, students and their families, but it also means that your school will be hosting the entire senior class plus their families and friends.
Between finding parking, attending a number of different ceremonies, and finding a place to meet up and celebrate afterward, an interactive map is the perfect way to make sure your school is ready to help people on the big day. Here are a few ways interactive maps can make graduation day a little less stressful and help guests easily navigate the campus.
Outline all ceremonies
Many college graduates have more than one ceremony to attend. Large schools typically host a main graduation with the entire graduating class and then smaller ceremonies for each major or department. These ceremonies aren’t always one the same day or the same location, and navigation can be difficult.
By using an interactive campus map, schools can highlight the different ceremonies throughout the week with custom icons and specific information, such as time, date, best parking locations, entrances and exits, restrooms, and more. Temporary 3D map overlays can be applied so ceremonies automatically toggle on and off to show by day or department making a detailed event map. These specific overlays not only help students and their families plan ahead, but they also serve to help alleviate campus congestion.
Highlight parking
Parking during graduation can be absolute madness. And it’s wise to use an interactive map to guide visitors to the best parking options, including notes on each lot. Also, note if there is a special place for drop-offs or for oversized vehicles to park. Interactive maps can also highlight accessible parking or routes, as well as wheelchair-accessible paths around campus.
Highlight nearby restaurants & hotels
Many out of town visitors come in for graduation ceremonies and will not know the campus and its surrounding area very well. Having nearby hotels and restaurants can not only help visitors navigate the area, but also give suggestions for places to celebrate after the ceremony.
Update public transportation
A lot of graduation attendees choose to take public transportation or ride share. Having designated pickup and drop off locations for ride-sharing apps can help with congestion and traffic on campus. Also, having live, updated shuttle options labeled across campus can help the process easier.
Interactive campus maps are also a great way to show visitors what’s on and around campus, and help people orient themselves long before they arrive. When the dust settles from a busy graduation week, digital maps can manually or automatically shift over to summer school mode, and your graduation guests will have had an amazing experience.
You’ve got this.
There are tons of possibilities for what can happen on Commencement Day. With the right interactive campus map tool, those possibilities can easily be positive.
There’s a lot to prep for when thinking about graduation. Do you have everything you need to make the day go smoothly? Take a look at our 2024 Higher Ed Commencement Day Checklist to make sure you’re checking all the boxes that make graduation stress-free.
Want to see what a great interactive campus map looks like in action? Check out our pre-recorded demo to learn how you can use this software for every facet of school life.