DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PORTAL SITE FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES 2008 IN BEIJING USING GOOGLE MAPS

摘要

The games of the 29th Olympiad will be held from August 8th to the 24th in Beijing and Peking. The 2008 Olympic Games are one of most important events to happen in China in recent years. To attend the avalanche of guests coming from all over the world, 100s of thousands volunteers are set to help take care of countless activities and tasks every day to make sure the 16 days are an enjoyable experience for all. Many of those tasks involve the transportation and geographical orientation of the guests. A portal site for displaying the 2008 sporting events happening in and around Beijing would be very useful. Most portal sites supply an e-map function for guiding and searching based on established methods. They always look like "plane paper" maps. The newer methods and techniques used in online virtual maps, on the other hand, give users more and better options. For example, Google Maps offers three viewing modes by default: Map (street map views), Satellite (satellite and high-resolution aerial photographs) and Hybrid (street maps overlaid on satellite and high-resolution aerial photographs). The first one is similar to a traditional map, but the last two models let users look at the same world through a different perspective. In addition, these maps can be combined with other data. The suitability of this technology to provide useful geoinformation for an important event, such as the 2008 Olympics in China, will be assessed.