In February I visited the USF Botanical Garden and enjoyed my walk around the property. Much to my surprise they had the old MOSI bioworks signs for their butterfly garden. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to volunteer and use my creative and computer design skills, and learned they were interested in having an online interactive map made for the property. Bingo! The gardener was also interested in having a “what’s in bloom” section, that would show what’s currently flowering during the current months.

V0.3 – May 4th 2021

I recently discovered Google My Maps. It allows you to create custom maps that overlay onto the Google map system. Using the mobile app, you can add way-points to your current GPS location. This solved the issue of inaccurate placements, and made it significantly easier to create everything. The only annoyance is you cannot create your own roads, so instead I had to draw a line (roughly) where the main pathway is. For my part, the map is complete. I am now awaiting the head gardener to add info, and the university to implement it.

V0.2 – March 27th 2021

I updated the concept to be more presentable. It now had a popup-textbox, a code that would show what month period it is (for what’s in bloom), and various optimizations. We are currently awaiting feedback from the university.

V0.1 – March 14th 2021

I created an initial concept in about 20 minutes. It had 5 clickable areas and would display text over the lake with info about the area. The gardener was thrilled with this possibility.