Skip to main content

Introduction

1. Intro

The UOIT Virtual Tour and Campus Map (hereby referred to as "the Tour" and "the Map") both contain a large amount of tightly interconnected data. We use a CMS (Content Management System) to manage these pieces of data and their relationships.

The University has previously used Cascade Server to manage its website data, but the nature of the Tour and Map data's structure isn't a natural fit for Cascade and required a different approach to remain efficient. The Tour and Map data is therefore managed using a CMS called KeystoneJS ("the CMS" or just "Keystone").

Cascade Server and KeystoneJS logos

2. Conceptual differences

Content authors coming from a Cascade background (or another CMS, such as Wordpress) will be presented with a few immediate adjustments in thought.

First off, unlike Cascade, Keystone does not dictate a data structure but rather provides a direct vehicle to the data. For this reason, the data format is transient and will often change to meet new requirements. It's possible that Keystone could later on be integrated with Cascade or even replaced with another solution entirely; therefore,

the structure of the data and how it is related is more important to learn than the CMS interface itself.

Second, traditional CMS users will be accustomed to a hierarchal model of Folder » contains » Page. The Tour and Map data are instead organized on a Piece « relates to » Piece basis. Though the data may give the illusion of hierarchy in the Tour interface, it's important to note for learning purposes that this is not the case;

data is connected by side-to-side relationships instead of top-down hierarchies

Cascade Server and KeystoneJS logos

and cannot be referred to as 'contained in' or 'containing' anything, but rather 'grouped by' something.

Cascade Server and KeystoneJS logos

3. Glossary

  • camera – in the context of the Tour, camera refers to the user's vantage point in 3D space: when a user "moves" a scene, they are actually rotating the camera.
  • code – the word code is often used in the CMS to denote a memorable alphanumeric identifier that will be used to identify/navigate to an asset by URL.
  • feature – features are specific to the Map and represent a single point of interest (a restaurant, an AED, an entire building but not its contents, etc)
  • hotspot – hotspots are clickable "information" markers within scenes that provide additional details on specific points of interest.
  • menu bar – the white bar that sits at the top of the Tour/Map interface; contains the logo/title and menu buttons.
  • Location – a Location, in the context of the Map and Tour, refers strictly to one of the two UOIT campus locations (North and Downtown) in order to avoid confusion related to the vagueness of this term.
  • location drilldown – the expanding menu available from the first toolbar button; progressive filters from a Location down to a scene.
  • scene – a scene refers to a viewable Tour panorama environment; scene links and hotspots are grouped by scene, and scenes are grouped by building.
  • scene editor - the editor interface within the Tour used to position and rotate scene links, hotspots, and entities; can be opened by right-clicking an object within a scene.
  • scene link – scene links are clickable navigation arrows within scenes that allow users to travel within the Tour environment by clicking the arrow that points where they'd like to go.
  • toolbar – the dark grey button bar to the right of the Tour/Map interface; used to expose the various navigation tools and settings