Image Mapping (advanced?)

[rob_247]

Hi, basically i dont even know if JS is the best tool to use, so any advice would be great please...

My page must display a pie chart (which i can create in illustrator or something). Each segment will link to a different page / change a content box etc... basically so that when my users put their mouse over a segment, a box on the screen tells them about the data corresponding to that segment. The data will change periodically (i will re-create the chart in illustrator), so the parameters must evolve accordingly.

One way of achieving what i want to do would be to use image maps, and try to plot the coordinates of each segment. A better way (if possible?) would be to have an "invisible" map of specific hex colours. ie i set specific hex colours eg #00000a for segment 1, #00000b for segment, #00000c for segment 3 etc... and somehow get the page to read which segment the mouse is over (similar to how skins work on things like media player).

ANY ideas anyone!? would a build in flash or something be better?

thanks
rob