hopefully this helps, i did something like this years ago on specialolympics.org
your html
<div class="world_map_container">
<img src="http://www.specialolympics.org/RegionsImages/map/transparent.gif" usemap="#the_world_map" id="transparent_map">
<img src="http://www.specialolympics.org/RegionsImages/map/world_map.png"><map name="the_world_map" id="the_world_map">
<area shape="poly" coords="69,86,83,71,83,51,70,30,52,16,18,36,5,53,23,74,53,83," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/north-america/_Region-Front/North-America.aspx" id="area_northamerica">
<area shape="poly" coords="63,94,77,89,99,99,87,138,72,138,63,108," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/latin-america/_Region-Front/Latin-America.aspx" id="area_southamerica">
<area shape="poly" coords="120,70,178,63,220,60,262,57,232,28,191,29,147,32,122,62," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/europe-eurasia/_Region-Front/Europe-Eurasia.aspx" id="area_eurasia">
<area shape="poly" coords="115,94,134,92,146,90,167,99,160,122,131,125,120,106," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/africa/_Region-Front/Africa.aspx" id="area_africa">
<area shape="poly" coords="112,84,137,87,152,87,152,80,139,74,120,79," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/middle-east-north-africa/_Region-Front/Middle-East-North-Africa.aspx" id="area_middleeast">
<area shape="poly" coords="209,68,202,71,190,73,186,81,195,85,206,88,216,84,216,75," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/east-asia/_Region-Section-Front/East-Asia.aspx" id="area_eastasia">
<area shape="poly" coords="192,96,218,91,248,100,259,132,218,133,199,120,197,110," href="http://www.specialolympics.org/Regions/asia-pacific/_Region-Front/Asia-Pacific.aspx" id="area_asiapacific">
</map>
<ul>
<li id="northamerica" style=""><a href="#">north america</a></li>
<li id="southamerica"><a href="#">south america</a></li><li id="eurasia"><a href="#">eurasia</a></li>
<li id="africa"><a href="#">Africa</a></li><li id="middleeast"><a href="#">Middle East</a></li>
<li id="eastasia"><a href="#">East Asia</a></li><li id="asiapacific"><a href="#">Asia Pacific</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
your css
div.world_map_container #transparent_map {
border: medium none;
height: 140px;
position: absolute;
width: 270px;
z-index: 30;
}
ul li {
display: none;
position: absolute;
text-indent: -9999px;
z-index: 20;
}
#northamerica {
background: url("/RegionsImages/map/north_america.png") no-repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;
height: 140px;
right: 0;
top: 0;
width: 270px;
}
#southamerica {
background: url("/RegionsImages/map/south_america.png") no-repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;
height: 140px;
right: 0;
top: 0;
width: 270px;
}
your js
$('.world_map_container area').each(function () {
// Assigning an action to the mouseover event
$(this).mouseover(function (e) {
var country_id = $(this).attr('id').replace('area_', '');
$('#' + country_id).css('display', 'block');
});
// Assigning an action to the mouseout event
$(this).mouseout(function (e) {
var country_id = $(this).attr('id').replace('area_', '');
$('#' + country_id).css('display', 'none');
});
});
you can see on this site now on the right rail http://specialolympics.org/
essentially you place a transparent image over the load image and you switch out map area on the hover and replace with each background area.