The Oak Bluffs library will be one of the first libraries in the country to be part of Google’s new indoor mapping project.
Sondra Murphy, the acting library director and children’s librarian, said a representative from Google’s Cambridge office e-mailed her “out of the blue” after finding the library’s floor plans online and asked if the library wanted to participate in the project.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Ms. Murphy recalled thinking.
Last fall, Google announced the creation of the indoor maps feature, which allows users to look at the floor plans of commercial locations. So far, the project includes airports, shopping malls and IKEA stores. Ms. Murphy said the library will one of the first, if not the first, library included in the project.
So far, the indoor map feature is only available on the Google Maps for Android application.
To participate, Ms. Murphy uploaded the floor plans to the Google Maps site and aligned the floor plans with the Google maps picture of the library, and on Monday, five “young Bostonians” came down to the library and walked around the library with iPhones, standing in different spots of the library to upload information.
The library will go live on the indoor maps site in about four weeks, Ms. Murphy said.
“It’s a great way to get younger people, more tech-savvy people in the library,” she added. Soon, the detailed floor map will indicate that the library is a place with a rest room, she said, or a place someone could check out a DVD.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Ms. Murphy said.
— Sara Brown
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