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The Smithsonian Institution asked Redmon to design and develop a new Web site to honor the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Rather than revisit stories of the expedition that have been told time and time again, the Smithsonian wanted a site that would capture the explorers' experiences as naturalists--what they found that no one knew existed.
The Web site pulls together the Smithsonian's natural history collection with the geography and chronology of the expedition. At the core of the site is a map of the route that highlights the points where specimens were collected. Visitors to the site can zoom in on those points and view the locality in greater detail. The site includes journal entries and historical notes, as well as images from the Smithsonian collection, some of which may be manipulated through the magic of simulated 3D.
The vast databases of information--images, artifacts, journal entries, historical notes, etc.--are stored in a SQL Server database with ColdFusion managing and delivering data to the screen. Locating the information is based on a simple drilldown structure and displayed via interfaces that capture the sense of history and exploration. The animated expedition route map was developed using Flash, pulling data from the SQL Server database via XML.
