[Sigia-l] maps in e-mail (was ID of emails

[David W. Crawford]

Dave Collins <DCollins at phoenix-interactive.com> writes:

> Looking for some direction/wisdom on sending pictures in emails to clients.
> If OT, could someone point me in the right direction?
>
> I want to send a picture in an email (it's a map to our new digs, so no
> viable text-equivalent.) so that it opens up *directly* in the email, not as
> an attachment.
>
> (Set aside for the moment the obvious question: Why force it on users? Why
> not just make it an attachment with accompanying descriptive text in the
> email, and give them a choice?)

At a minimum, post an URL for the map if the map is an image file.
and included this URL with short description in the readable
body of the e-mail.

> I know that there are issues wherein the viewer is able to control how
> images/attachments are processed, and that's what I'm looking for.

Or viewers are not able to control, and therefor can't fix.

> Is it *possible* to create an email such that a graphic is directly embedded
> and reliably viewed?

A small ASCII map may work.

> What are the details about how this embedded viewing gets turned on/off, or
> does not work in certain situations (eg Outlook settings, other mail apps)?
> I'm sure this is not an uncommon need. What is the general way of handling
> it? If not reliable, what's the next best?
> What is this called so I can go researching it? Email embedded graphics?


eg
http://www-db.stanford.edu/pub/gio/personal/csdmap.html

After a forward or reply, the indenting may mess up the map,
but at first it's serviceable.

                                                                     |
 | Page Mill                                               Alpine Rd |
 | (to I280)                                              (to I-280) |
 X==X===============X========Junipero Serra===================X======X
 |  |              //                                         ||     \\
 || |             //  ______________\                         ||      `=X
    |            //  //(4)           |                        ||  Alameda
    |           /---'    Tresidder   |(5) Santa Teresa st.    ||  de los
    | Bowdoin  //         Student  ---------------------------||  Pulgas
    |_________//          Union                 |             \\
    | (7)    //                                 |--------.     \\Cam-
    | Campus//      Central Stanford Campus          | V  \(3)  ||pus
    | Drive//                                  _     | i   \    ||Dr.
  S | East//           .......(2).......       |ERL  | a    |   ||West
  t |    //            :     Main      :       |     | P    |   ||
  a |    ||            :     Quad      :    (5)|-----| a    |   ||
  n |    ||            :...............:  ,----'     _ l    |   ||
  f |    |-------)(-Serra St--------------'-------|    o    |   ||
  o |    ||    |     GSB      /^\   (4)    Gates(1)    u    |   //
  r |    ||    |G         (5)|   |(5)      CS Bldg.  ,========='' 
  d |    ||    |a     The oval\ /             |     //      |
    |    ||    |l      _       ||             |    |(5)     |   (5)
  A |    ||    |v      |-------|-----Roth Way -----||       |-------|    
  v |    ||    |e      |(5)  P ||(5)|        (3)(5)|| Stanford (6)......
  e |    ||    |z      |     a ||   |        PAR-| || Medical     :MSOB:
  . |    \\    |       |     l ||   |        KING\ // School &    :....:
    |     \\   |       |     m ||   /             //  Hospital
    |      `===|=======|=======||===Campus Dr====''\ /
    |          |       |     D ||                   +
    |          | more trees  r ||                   |
    |          |        \      ||                   |
    |          |---------------X---Arboretum Rd-----X---` to Stanford
    |         /                ||                   |    Shopping Ctr
    |  Galvez/  lots of trees  ||                   |
    |    St /     here        /||\                  \    |
====X======X===================||====El Camino Real======X==========
          /         underpass \||/
-+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-CALtrain --+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--
Embarca-/            University|| station
dero Rd/(to US 101)        Ave.||                  San Francisco --`
      /               (Downtown Palo Alto)



David W. Crawford    <dc at omor.com>