Using Blocks or Integrations to create a clickable festival map

[Dana_Beegle]

I’m wondering if anyone knows of a way to link information in an Airtable base to a clickable festival map? I help coordinate a fairly large science festival with several exhibitors, performers, and activities. We are hosting a virtual event this fall and would like to crate a “map” where people could click on a square/circle/whatever on the map, to lead them back to an Airtable base. Would the 3D block work or one of the integrations?

Thanks in advance for any ideas/help you can offer!

[andywingrave]

I have a few ideas here - But I think for a festival map, I’d recommend you use something like What three words - you could use their API to connect it to locations.

what3words.com

what3words | Addressing the world

Explore the world in 3 words. what3words is a giant grid comprised of 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares that cover the entire globe. It is the simplest way to communicate location.

Just a thought. Hope that helps!

[Bill_French]

andywingrave:

What three words…

I like W3W as well - it’s a very clever approach to geo-tagging the globe. It also has some clear social interface value as well. However…

Dana_Beegle:

We are hosting a virtual event this fall and would like to create a “map” where people could click on a square/circle/whatever on the map, to lead them back to an Airtable base. Would the 3D block work or one of the integrations?

If you want to create a really custom solution that you own, I would recommend Mapbox and the Airtable API. You can still integrate and geo-encode for use with W3W, but it would not force users to adopt W3W. Think of W3W as an added location enhancement to a solution that works well without it.

I’ve built many mapping solutions with Airtable data using Mapbox and they’ve all turned out really well. This one is a secure Mapbox app built for an enterprise using G-Suite.

[andywingrave]

Great idea, @Bill.French!

I only suggested W3W because it is a festival, so other map solutions might not be so granular. Typically festivals require really specific locations in small areas of land.

I’ve never heard of Mapbox -Will need to check it out!

[Dana_Beegle]

Thanks everyone! These are very interesting ideas. I will absolutely check into them. As a follow up…what if we end up creating a “map-like diagram” of the festival that is not tied to any geographical locations per se? (This could happen if the event goes 100% virtual.) Is there a way to integrate Airtable data with a clickable “diagram”? Thanks in advance!

[Bill_French]

andywingrave:

Typically festivals require really specific locations in small areas of land.

Yep - it’s deal for reducing the quadrant relevance to about 3 by 3 meters which for a human is about your reach from wherever you happen to be standing.

For unfamiliar onlookers to this thread, W3W is a quadrant approach to mapping that extends usability by ensuring that three word combinations are all that you need to know to know precisely where something is. For example, I am at …

Upon close examination, that square is this window in my office -

In a festival context, mapping all the interesting things with 3 by 3 meter precision would allow visitors to see exact locations as they move about the physical space. Unfortunately, this is going to be a virtual festival, so there might not be a lot of W3W interest per-se.