The Digital Signage Nearby Gadget displays a Google map with a list of locations maintained in a public Google spreadsheet that a user can interact with to show the walking, driving, biking directions, and street view. You can optionally include a URL to an image that can show relevant information. All directions include an automatically generated QR Code that a user can scan on their mobile device. You can select the location by clicking on the pin on the map, or by clicking on the name in the list. The list will include a scrollbar if it is too long to display in the Placeholder. If no user activity is detected for a customizable period of time (inactivity timeout), the map will automatically reset itself to the default position and any open dialogues/popups are closed.
Here is an example of a properly formatted Google Spreadsheet display software, which includes columns for the location Name, Address, Latitude, Longitude, and “More Info” (optional). Two websites you can use to generate latitude and longitude coordinates are http://geocoder.ca/ and http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html.
‘What location do you want to use as current?” shows a star indicating ‘You are Here‘ on the map. You can choose from “Where the address as setup in Rise Vision for the Display says it is physically located”, “Where the Geolocation reported by the computer running the Display says it is physically located”, or “A custom address that you enter in the field below”.
Enter the Location List Spreadsheet URL, choose the Data Refresh Interval, and the Position and Size in pixels of the list in relation to the map.
Choose the Background, dialogue Border and Dialogue Background Color using the Background Color Picker. Enter the Inactivity Timeout value in seconds, and choose if you want to show the Location List Header.
The Location List is customizable by Font, Size, and Color. The font and size are selected via the Font Selector. The font color, list background, alternating row background, row separator, and scrollbar color are all selected via Color Picker. Modify the Row Separator Width and Scrollbar Thickness in pixels by entering the appropriate value.
This Gadget has been released to the open source community and more information can be found on our Developers page. The technical documentation is here and the source code is here. We encourage you to take this software and use it for whatever you want to create.
This Gadget can be added to your personal iGoogle page so that it can be viewed at any time. To add this Gadget, navigate to iGoogle and click on the ‘Add stuff’ link in the upper right. Once there, click the ‘Add feed or gadget’ option in the lower left and paste the link for the Gadget there. Click OK at the prompt, and then return to your iGoogle page by clicking the ‘Back to iGoogle home’ link in the upper right to return to the home page. The Gadget’s settings can be edited by clicking on the down arrow located in the Gadget’s title bar.
If you have further questions or ideas please jump into our very active Community Forum.
