Hive Mind needed: interactive printed map

[Gertrude]

I'm creating a printed map that is meant to be interacted with - we don't want to introduce technology at this time. The map will be large, wall mounted and covered by plexiglass. It's for a Czech / Slovak heritage museum and we want the patrons to be able to mark where their family emigrated from as a way to draw them into the genealogy library. We've thought of small dot stickers or paint pens to mark it. We want it to be something that grows over time so more and more dots are added. There is relatively low to medium traffic with some supervision and we don't think there will be a huge problem with people just fucking around and making a mess, but people are people and we want to minimize opportunities for this, of course. The paint pen idea kind of seems the most promising, but the director didn't like the idea of having one object everyone would be touching. I think this is a covid inspired fear, but even post-covid (eventually) he wasn't fond of the idea, but couldn't come up with anything better. The map will be large (5-6 feet across maybe), so we have room to work, but popular areas might get covered quickly if this is a thing people use.

I was hoping someone, somewhere in this world-wide board community might have an idea, or had seen something similar that worked. The project is in the beginning stages and nothing is set in stone.

[The Mance]

How about a thin sheet of metal backing behind the map/plexi and then magnetic markers for people to place?  

[Gertrude]

14 minutes ago, The Mance said:

How about a thin sheet of metal backing behind the map/plexi and then magnetic markers for people to place?  

That did cross my mind, but that is not as permanent as I think we want, and easily bumped. Also a potential choking hazard for grabby children. I will put it on my list as we are fielding all ideas at this time. Thanks!

[felice]

6 hours ago, Gertrude said:

We've thought of small dot stickers or paint pens to mark it. We want it to be something that grows over time so more and more dots are added. There is relatively low to medium traffic with some supervision and we don't think there will be a huge problem with people just fucking around and making a mess, but people are people and we want to minimize opportunities for this, of course. The paint pen idea kind of seems the most promising, but the director didn't like the idea of having one object everyone would be touching.

Stickers sounds good to me. Less repeat touching, and less potential for abuse than a pen. The Mittens Exhibition provided small post-it notes for visitors to place Mittens sightings on a map, and that seemed to work fine.

[Fragile Bird]

The maps like this that I’ve seen have been mounted on a cork backing and people have used pins to mark where they’re from, the heavy pins with a colored globe of plastic on the end. Rather than have a box of pins that everyone touches, have a smaller cork board beside your map with a bunch of broadly spaced out pins stuck in the cork, so the visitor can just take a pin out of that board to use on the map.

People like pins better than magnets or stickers because, um, you can literally pin-point the place! I wouldn’t use any kind of marking pen because there’s always some asshat who decides it’s an invitation to make comments, rude or otherwise.

[Gertrude]

@Fragile Bird We discussed pins, but two people had experienced this type of map at a recent genealogical convention and they were not impressed. The pins were falling out and the cork had deteriorated in places so the pins no longer held. That could be because of the higher traffic - have you seen this work in person over a long period of time?

We also know pens are tricky, but are hoping to get a medium that is semi-permanent and can be cleaned from the plexi (if we go that route)

@felice We're leaning stickers the more we talk, but it's still not super satisfying. Hearing about the post-it's working is promising though.