Summary
The Big Ten Academic Alliance Geoportal offers text, faceting, and map based search functionality. This post reviews how to search for items from the homepage and how to refine that search from the results page.Homepage Search Options
There are three search options on the homepage: text search box, category browse, and map search.
1. Text Search Box
The first item below the banner is a general keyword search box. The search will scan all of the text fields in the metadata record.
2. Category Browse
Three categories have been placed on the homepage for browsing: Institution, Publisher, and Subject. At the bottom of each category is the text more >>. Clicking on this link will bring up an overlay box where the user can sort all of the items alphabetically or by number of entries.
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| Full subject list obtained by clicking "more >>" |
3. Map Search
At the bottom of the page is a world map for geographic searches. The user can pan the map with the mouse and zoom with the controls at the upper left. When the desired area is in view, the user can click the blue “Search here” button at the upper right. Only records that fall within the geographic extents visible on the map will be displayed.
Tip: How to browse all records in the geoportal.
There are two ways to display a list of all of the records in the geoportal. The first is to type an asterisk * in the text search box. The second is to use the map. With the full world in view (default setting), click the blue Search here button.
Search Results Options
Once an action has taken place on the homepage, the user will be taken to a search results page. The text search box will still be present at the top, but additional options will be available.
Facet Column
The left hand column is made up of ten different categories, or facets, for users to select from. The first three are the same as the homepage: Institution, Publisher, and Subject. The user can expand each facet and select a value to refine their search.
As values are selected, they are added to a section at the top of the page called “You searched for:” Users can delete values from their multi-faceted search by clicking on the X’s after each value.
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| Facet group showing search combination |
Record List Column
The list of results takes up the center portion of the page. Users can use the navigation to tab through the lists. The list can also be viewed by relevance, year, publisher, or title. The number of items per page can also be changed from 10 to 20, 50, or 100.
The icons next to the titles indicate the data type, the institution, and the access rights for the item.
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| Icon Types after Titles |
Map Search
A smaller map appears at the right of the record list. The user can pan the map and use the controls at the upper left for zooming. This will dynamically change the results list. Only the items that are within the current map view will be returned.