Website providing a virtual exploration of Fort Mason Center in San Francisco and the exhibits developed onsite by the Exploratorium.
The Outdoor Exploratorium Website provides a virtual exploration of Fort Mason Center in San Francisco and the exhibits developed onsite by the Exploratorium. The exhibits were designed to foster observations of subtle phenomena, and so the website endeavors to give the user a similar experience. Intentionally minimal, the site eschews obvious navigation in favor of subtly guided exploration. Users navigate through panoramic images of the Fort Mason Site to discover the exhibits and other content by clicking on circular icons they find in the panoramas. A pop-up interactive map of the area provides users with an overview of the exhibit locations and an alternate mode of accessing them. A live weather and tidal display gives users a sense of the current conditions at Fort Mason. New exhibits and content can be easily added to the Site by updating an XML file.
The Site was built in Flash and pulls live data from the NOAA SOAP web service.
Collaborators: Mark McGowan, Bryan Connell, Steve Gennrich, Hugh McDonald, Thomas Rockwell