1) What other adobe programs do I need other than after effects and photoshop? Getting the Adobe suite is out of the question. So I am assuming I'll need flash.
Flash it is
2) Should this interactive map be a web/flash page or is it better to have it be a program installed in the workstations.
a webpage should do the trick
3) If so, what other programs do I need?
None if you keep the approach simple.
4)I have not seen any demos of what I want to achieve anywhere. How smooth would the video transistion be as far as from the time the user clicks on the map to the time it takes to trigger a flash or video transistion. And how smooth would it be from the end of the transistion to the loading of the next map. I really need it to be as seamless as possible.
You can preload all the videos you need as external files, so the streaming is seamless.
5)What's the difference between flash and flash builder? Will I need dream weaver?
It depends on your background and the complexity of your project. Flash can do anything that FlashBuilder does, but not vice versa. If you have no experience with Interactive Media and more a video than a progrmmer background, I would go for flash. For an experienced After Effects user the UI of Flash looks very familiar. Dreamweaver would only be useful if you plan to work with other web technologies like php, asp or databases.
