HPEnvy\RyanAbout
The novel series by George R.R. Martin, "A Song of Ice and Fire" covers a massive world and dozens of characters. As I was reading the books, I found it difficult to keep track of the characters' whereabouts and how close one place was to another. Each book included small maps in the front pages, but I knew there should be an easier way.
There were several maps available on the Internet, but all static images. One was large enough to be a good option for a new feature in the Google Maps API custom tiles using ImageMapType. I cut the original image into tiles, and had a map that could be panned and zoomed. On top of that base layer, I added markers and polygons that made the map clickable and displayed additional information. Next, I plotted where each major character traveled on the map and associated each step with a specific point in the story.
The slider in the top-right of the website lets the user select how much of the books they have read (or how much of the TV show they have seen). As the slider is moved, the character paths are updated so that the user sees what has already happened, but is protected from plot details they have not yet reached.
After a 2014 feature in The Guardian, the site went viral, reaching more than 9.5 million sessions by mid-2016.