Hello Hopkins! It's been a while since we talked about one of our earliest and still most successful projects: Virtual JHU. Now that the Class of 2018 decisions have been released, it's time to get the baby Blue Jays acquainted with our campus. What better way to do that than with an interactive and informative virtual campus model?
To view Virtual JHU, you will have to install the Google Earth plug-in, but the link is provided for you on the page. Once you get to the website main page, the plugin will take you right to where Hopkins is on Earth. The zooming in part is only a small detail of what makes this map different from the others. Alternatively, you can view the shells of buildings and their basic description via Google Earth itself. While on the Google Earth page, simply type in Johns Hopkins University, and most of the models will appear right there through Google. If you look closely at the building descriptions in the Model tab, you will see that credit for the model and information is given to JHU. They really mean JHU STS.
Using the tools on the website is intuitive for anyone who is familiar with the format of Google Maps. The zoom bar, directional compass, and observation angle are all changeable according to what the user would like to view. This makes the interface user-friendly, perfect for a potential freshmen or a parent looking at the details of campus.
Once the site has loaded (and it may take a while, apologies), you are able to move about a 3D virtual version of the Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus. Each building seen was modeled using the Google SketchUp tool by out STS team years ago. We have since used this same tool for modeling the New Clinical Building of Johns Hopkins Hospital and modeling virtual dorm rooms for the Housing and Dining Department based on the success of the first virtual JHU project.
Each building you see on the Hopkins campus comes with a short description of the building's history, who it was named for, and, if applicable, what department and equipment are housed there. An example of Mason Hall is shown below.
You can also go inside of the buildings and explore every floor's layout. Here I have done that with the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, the largest building on the Homewood campus.The rooms in which classes are held are marked with a purple box, and the restrooms are the green boxes. Sometimes clicking on a purple box will even tell you which class is in that room, if it's a large lecture group! The rooms will also display what equipment is available for that room in the Equipment tab.
This is a pretty neat tool whether or not you attend classes here because it allows you to explore the resources and the scale of what Hopkins has. You can learn about the campus and its history by reading through the descriptions, and also look inside of the dorm buildings and scope out a potential new home.
As of now, Virtual JHU is getting ready for a renovation that will include new buildings like Brody Learning Commons and renamed old ones like Croft Hall. This will happen within the coming year thanks to the dedication of STS employees. Keep your eyes out for more announcements!
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| The Virtual JHU Homewood Campus! Notice that you can click the name of any building on the right hand side and the map will rotate and zoom to that location on the map. |
To view Virtual JHU, you will have to install the Google Earth plug-in, but the link is provided for you on the page. Once you get to the website main page, the plugin will take you right to where Hopkins is on Earth. The zooming in part is only a small detail of what makes this map different from the others. Alternatively, you can view the shells of buildings and their basic description via Google Earth itself. While on the Google Earth page, simply type in Johns Hopkins University, and most of the models will appear right there through Google. If you look closely at the building descriptions in the Model tab, you will see that credit for the model and information is given to JHU. They really mean JHU STS.
Using the tools on the website is intuitive for anyone who is familiar with the format of Google Maps. The zoom bar, directional compass, and observation angle are all changeable according to what the user would like to view. This makes the interface user-friendly, perfect for a potential freshmen or a parent looking at the details of campus.
Once the site has loaded (and it may take a while, apologies), you are able to move about a 3D virtual version of the Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus. Each building seen was modeled using the Google SketchUp tool by out STS team years ago. We have since used this same tool for modeling the New Clinical Building of Johns Hopkins Hospital and modeling virtual dorm rooms for the Housing and Dining Department based on the success of the first virtual JHU project.
Each building you see on the Hopkins campus comes with a short description of the building's history, who it was named for, and, if applicable, what department and equipment are housed there. An example of Mason Hall is shown below.
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| The history and function of Mason Hall can be found by clicking on the yellow dot that appears on the building. |
This is a pretty neat tool whether or not you attend classes here because it allows you to explore the resources and the scale of what Hopkins has. You can learn about the campus and its history by reading through the descriptions, and also look inside of the dorm buildings and scope out a potential new home.
As of now, Virtual JHU is getting ready for a renovation that will include new buildings like Brody Learning Commons and renamed old ones like Croft Hall. This will happen within the coming year thanks to the dedication of STS employees. Keep your eyes out for more announcements!