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Initially, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) contracted Redmon to develop a simple Web-based database to accommodate its vast libraries of information about North American mammals. Over time, however, the staff at the Smithsonian who used the product liked its simple design and database structure so Redmon was asked to redesign the site for release to the general public. The site provides easy access to NMNHs information about North American mammals. Visitors to the site can search for a particular order, family, or genus. They can view family trees that demonstrate in graphical format how an individual mammal is grouped into families. In a number of instances, visitors can view a skull, skeletal structures, and teeth in virtual reality, and the user can use the mouse to click and drag the image so it can be viewed in 360-degree format.
The North American Mammals Web site employs a simple HTML front end with ColdFusion managing the flow of data to and from a Microsoft Access database. A robust search engine is included so that the database may be searched by keyword and then sorted by name and description, conservation status, and special groupings. The 360-degree images are presented in QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR). The interface is custom-designed and created by Redmon's artists.
