An incoming doctoral student is changing that.
Luna, who goes by a mononym, developed MGuide, a digital campus map web application that has praise from accessibility professionals.
The soon-to-be doctoral student in the UM School of Information built the map over 48 hours of work over 12 days to develop the website. Some artificial intelligence was used as an assist, Luna said.
“Giving them resources and enabling people to go out there and explore and see which buildings are actually accessible, stuff like that can also help students gain a sense of curiosity for what other students might want and how they can help,” said Luna, 21, currently a fourth-year student studying cognitive science and psychology at the University of California, San Diego.
Features include finding empty classrooms for studying, identifying transit routes and visualizing on-campus buildings. MGuide also helps users locate UM services and be prepared for the weather.
Luna, who said the website “puts what the student would want first,” hopes to polish the website this fall so that it assists students navigating their classes, even each individual room inside buildings.
The San Diego resident said they felt enamored with Ann Arbor, especially its vibrancy and peacefulness, after they visited UM in mid-March. But Luna could not find a digital map that satisfied their curiosity of UM’s general layout.
“It’s just honestly a beautiful city and I’m really excited to move there come fall,” Luna said, noting they especially want to help out other incoming students.
Luna drew on their experience at UCSD, including knowledge of apps popular among San Diego students. They plan to use the web application themselves as they navigate the Ann Arbor campus this fall.
“I will not only be able to see how other people are using it, but I’ll also be able to use it myself,” Luna said.
William “Will” Purves, accessibility and education consultant at Disability Network Washtenaw Monroe Livingston, applauded the website’s focus on accessibility for some disabilities.
Purves, an Ann Arbor man who is blind, said the website appears as if it was designed with accessibility in mind from the start, which he said is uncommon with online maps.
“The controls are pretty straightforward, easy to navigate and the kind of information that’s provided is pretty accessible,” he said, noting most digital maps draw from large comprehensive data sets and are inaccessible for users with visual disabilities.
Purves works with Ann Arbor city officials on digital mapping and making those maps more accessible for all people.
MGuide has made Luna feel inspired and excited to attend UM, while being able to connect with other students on their feedback.
“I feel like I can make things that can generally improve the student experience and hopefully the experience of anyone just happening to stumble upon and want to look for more information about the university,” Luna said.
“I made something that students actually want.”
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