SOURCES SOUGHT
T -- Interactive TimeMaps
- Notice Date
- 8/8/2006
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 115310
— Support Activities for Forestry
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, R-6 Northwest Oregon Contracting Area (NOCA), 16400 Champion Way, Sandy, OR, 97055
- ZIP Code
- 97055
- Solicitation Number
- R6-27-06-148
- Response Due
- 8/15/2006
- Archive Date
- 8/30/2006
- Description
- The Supervisors Office of the MT Hood National Forest is seeking sources for the below project description. Please respond by August 15, 2006 SCOPE OF WORK This contract requires prototyping, design, testing, and specific implementation of interactive TimeMaps. Interactive TimeMaps are stacked, thematic timelines that function online to serve as a comprehensive index to research findings and knowledge resources in a user-interactive, zoomable canvas that also contain embedded rich-media presentations on key topics by credible researcher scientists and other experts, as well as links to geographic display in modern online mapping applications. LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION A basic fully functional template for TimeMapping shall be developed that meets all the requirements specified here. During the prototyping, development and testing of the TimeMapping template, rich media resources will be set up to fit inside TimeMaps for specific areas. The areas include the Experimental Forests of the Pacific Research Stations (Pacific Northwest and Pacific Southwest), Research Natural Areas in FS Regions 5, 6, and 10, Mount St Helens, and the HJ Andrews Forest (part of the Willamette National Forest. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Prototyping, design, testing and specific implementation of TimeMapping will involve six tasks, as follows: TASK 1 ? Refine TimeMap prototyping and incorportate working functionality A basic visual-only (low functionality) prototyping has been made to start the requirements process. This may be found here: http://www.fsl.orst.edu/geowater/timemaps/protopres.html The contractor will interact with the FS and its partners, proposing features and building online prototypes for review to refine the form and function of TimeMaps, add and revise features, and make various features functional and testable with real information and rich-media resources. A final, deployable TimeMap system shall be in place at the end of the contract period. All code shall be transparent, fully commented, and suitable for any knowledgeable ActionScript programmer to modify. TASK 2 ? Collect materials and create rich-media presentations Contractor shall capture and produce 50 hours or more Persistent Electronic Presentations (PEPs) that create lectures and presentations on-demand. These include video compressed for online streaming, high quality sound, full screen-resolution slides, an interactive table of contents, scrub slider that is fully synchronized with the slides and video, and web links. The PEPs should be configured to conform to SCORM Standards and be fully embeddable in the TimeMap template, such that they can be zoomed up and will play normally, but may be interrupted by a zoom out command from the user. TASK 3 ? Develop an effective technique to integrate PEPs, electronic documents, and imagry with TimeMaps Contractor shall prototype, receive review, and modify PEPS, electronic documents, and imagry inside of TimeMaps to effectively embed these resources into the TimeMaps so that they are: 1) simple for users to access, 2) are not limited to the number of resources that can be so embedded (they should load independently of the TimeMap on-demand such that there is no effective limit to the amount of rich-media that may be embedded, other than space for visual interfacing inside the zoomable environment. 3) All features of the PEPs are fully functional inside the TimeMaps 4) Navigation of TimeMaps by user is not impaired by embedded resources TASK 4 ? Create a user-friendly marker submission system for TimeMap entries Contractor shall prototype, design, test and implement an interactive online submission system for FS and partners to submit time marker events and corrections for inclusion into specific TimeMaps. The system shall work via any webserver, without server-side support other than PHP, and shall be deployed for testing and review at the fsl.orst.edu website. TASK 5 ? Develop and implement TimeMaps for specific areas Contractor shall implement basic TimeMaps for the following areas: 1) Mount St Helens (Gifford Pinchot NF) 2) HJ Andrews Forest 3) At least 20 Experimental Forests 4) At least 10 Research Natural Areas 5) Copper River Delta (Chugach National Forest) For each of these, a basic template and submission system shall be put online, and basic resources shall be embedded as they are available from contractors efforts and from materials submitted to contractor from the FS. In addition, to present the TimeMaps, a ?profile page? that includes the TimeMaps shall be prepared for each of these places for use as a web portal. TASK 6 ? Implement Evaluation Program To evaluate the overall effectiveness of the project at satisfying its objectives, an online questionnaire shall be developed and posted on each TimeMap page for participants to provide comment and feedback. Access statistics shall be kept to track usage, and attempt to solicit feedback regarding the ease and efficiency of the TimeMap template, web page, and submission system. Basic Requirements for TimeMap functionality A visual demonstration of TimeMap features may be accessed here: http://www.fsl.orst.edu/geowater/timemaps/protopres.html Definitions/Terms TimeRibbon (timeslice): A single timeline or category of key events in a research property such as an experimental forest or other research-rich area. TimeMap: A collection of vertically stacked ribbons. Requirements Designed as a Flash Application for modularity Database / XML backend for ease of update and quick redraw of ribbon content or organization Full text search-ability Ribbons can be moved and rearranged by dragging One to many ribbons can be opened at a time to compare information The TimeMap can be scrolled vertically (if needed) when comparing many ribbons at once Ribbons are modular and can be used in other TimeMap applications. For example, the climate ribbons from individual Experimental Forests may be concatenated to form a TimeMap of climate lines for multiple Experimental Forests. Ribbons are zoomable to increase detail for heavily concentrated years. No limit to z-space zooming is the goal. In practice, up to 4 zoom levels shall be implemented the application shall be structured so that additional zoom levels may be added. Automatic sizing of entire TimeMap dependant on number and sizing of key entries Ability to embed media into ribbons o PEPs (includes streaming video, sound, interactive TOC, screen-resolution images, and links o Imagery galleries o Video clips o SWFs (other flash presentations) o Links o PDF and Flashpaper documents of scientific papers and reports Loading of material in the background where user requests can be reasonable anticipated, for less waiting when navigating All code to be fully commented to enable other programmers to access and modify code Input system is transparent and easy to use such that no specialized skill is needed to input markers Preservation of time context no matter the zoom level (for example, you always know what year you are looking at) MouseWheel use for side (time-dimension) scrolling Time frame October 2006 to December 2007 The NAICS Code is 115310. Registration in the Central Contractor Registration is required www.ccr.gov. Online Representations and Certifications (ORCA) is also recommended (https://orca.bpn.gov). Contracting Officer for this project is Sue LaCroix and can be reached at (503) 668-1781 or email slacroix@fs.fed.us.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Mt. Hood National Forest, 16400 Champion Way, Sandy, OR
- Zip Code: 97055
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 97055
- Record
- SN01108699-W 20060810/060808220220 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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