Blind Friendly Maps
Tactile Maps for the Blind as a Part of the Public Map Portal (Mapy.cz)
Conference paper
First Online:
Abstract
Blind people can now use maps located at Mapy.cz, thanks to the long-standing joint efforts of the ELSA Center at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Teiresias Center at Masaryk University, and the company Seznam.cz. Conventional map underlays are automatically adjusted so that they could be read through touch after being printed on microcapsule paper, which opens a whole new perspective in the use of tactile maps. Users may select an area of their choice in the Czech Republic (only within its boundaries, for the time being) and also the production of tactile maps, including the preparation of the map underlays, takes no more than several minutes.
Keywords
Tactile map Tactile perception Blind people Web maps accessibility Automated geodata processingReferences
- 1.Benzen, B.L.: Orientation aids. In: Welch, R.L., Blash, B.B. (eds.) Foundation of Orientation & Mobility, pp. 291–355. AFB Press, New York (1980)Google Scholar
- 2.Buzzi, M.C., Buzzi, M., Leporini, B., Martusciello, L.: Making visual maps accessible to the blind. In: Stephanidis, C. (ed.) Universal Access in HCI, Part II, HCII 2011. LNCS, vol. 6766, pp. 271–280. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 3.Červenka, P.: Maps and orientation plans for the Visually Impaired. Creation and Usage Methods (in Czech). 66 p., AULA, Prague (1999)Google Scholar
- 4.Ducasse, J., Macé, M., Jouffrais, C.: From open geographical data to tangible maps: improving the accessibility of maps for visually impaired people. In: ISPRS — International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XL- 3/W3, pp. 517–523 (2015)Google Scholar
- 5.Eriksson, Y., Gunnar, J., Strucel, M.: Tactile maps — Guidelines for the production of maps for the visually impaired. 78 p., The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille, Enskede (2003)Google Scholar
- 6.Miele, J.A.: Talking TMAP: Automated generation of audio-tactile maps using SmithKettlewell’s TMAP software. Br. J. Vis. Impairment 24(2), 93–100 (2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 7.Taylor, B.T., et al.: TactileMaps.net A Web Interface for Generating Customized 3D–Printable Tactile Maps. ASSETS 2015, pp. 427–428. Lisbon, Portugal (2015)Google Scholar
- 8.Wang, Z., et al.: Instant tactile–audio map. In: Proceeding of the Eleventh International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility – ASSETS 2009, pp. 43–50. ACM Press, New York, USA (2009)Google Scholar
- 9.Watanabe, T., Yamaguchi, T., Koda, S., Minatani, K.: Tactile map automated creation system using openstreetmap. In: Miesenberger, K., Fels, D., Archambault, D., Peňáz, P., Zagler, W. (eds.) ICCHP 2014, Part II. LNCS, vol. 8548, pp. 42–49. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)Google Scholar
- 10.Mapnik. http://mapnik.org
- 11.Open Street Maps. http://openstreetmap.org
- 12.Blind Friendly Maps. http://hapticke.mapy.cz
Copyright information
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016