Abstract
Visual maps deliver content in a simple and effective way. They can be useful for various purposes in areas such as street guidance, surrounding information, and education. However, sightless persons are unable to explore visual maps and risk being cut off from several multimedia Web applications. In this paper, starting from accessibility issues of map-based applications, we discuss possible interaction modalities and devices to use for truly achieving usage perspectives desired by blind people. New ways to interact with a mobile device (such as gestures or touch commands) and possible solutions for making a map truly effective are investigated. In order to better explain the issues and needs of blind users accessing visual maps, an example of an interaction is presented.
Chapter PDF
References
Guzzetta, A., Baldini, S., Bancale, A., Baroncelli, L., Ciucci, F., Ghirri, P., Putignano, E., Sale, A., Viegi, A., Berardi, N., Boldrini, A., Cioni, G., Maffei, L.: Massage Accelerates Brain Development and the Maturation of Visual Function. The Journal of Neuroscience 29(18), 6042–6051 (2009)
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Recommendation W3C (2008), http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
OpenStreetMap. Accessibility, http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Accessibility
Miao, M., Köhlmann, W., Schiewe, M., Weber, G.: Tactile Paper Prototyping with Blind Subjects. In: Altinsoy, M.E., Jekosch, U., Brewster, S. (eds.) HAID 2009. LNCS, vol. 5763, pp. 81–90. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Minatani, K., Watanabe, T., Yamaguchi, T., Watanabe, K., Akiyama, J., Miyagi, M., Oouchi, S.: Tactile Map Automated Creation System to Enhance the Mobility of Blind Persons - Its Design Concept and Evaluation through Experiment. In: Miesenberger, K., et al. (eds.) ICCHP 2010, Part II, vol. 618, pp. 534–540 (2010)
Zeng, L., Weber, G.: Audio-Haptic Browser for a Geographical Information System. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W., Karshmer, A. (eds.) ICCHP 2010. LNCS, vol. 6180, pp. 466–473. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Loomis, J.: Digital Map and Navigation System for the Visually Impaired, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara (1985) (unpublished paper)
Spindler, M., Kraus, M., Weber, G.: A Graphical Tactile Screen-Explorer. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W., Karshmer, A. (eds.) ICCHP 2010. LNCS, vol. 6180, pp. 474–481. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Magnusson, C., Brewster, S., Sarjakoski, T., Roselier, S., Sarjakoski, L.T., Tollmar, K.: Exploring Future Challenges for Haptic, Audio and Visual Interfaces for Mobile Maps and Location Based Service. In: LocWeb 2009, Boston, MA, USA (April 4, 2009)
McGookin, D., Cole, R., Brewster, S.: Virtual Navigator: Developing A Simulator for Independent Route Learning. In: Poster presentation at HAID 2010, Copenhagen, Denmark (2010)
Habel, C., Kerzel, M., Lohmann, K.: Verbal Assistance in Tactile-Map Explorations: A Case for Visual Representations and Reasoning. In: Proceedings of AAAI Workshop on Visual Representations and Reasoning, AAAI Conference 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA (2010)
Schmitz, B., Ertl, T.: Making Digital Maps Accessible Using Vibrations. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W., Karshmer, A. (eds.) ICCHP 2010. LNCS, vol. 6179, pp. 100–107. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Sánchez, J.: Mobile Audio Navigation Interfaces for the Blind. In: Stephanidis, C. (ed.) UAHCI 2009. LNCS, vol. 5615, pp. 402–411. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Miele, J.A., Landau, S., Gilden, D.: Talking TMAP: Automated Generation of Audio-Tactile Maps Using Smith-Kettlewell’s TMAP Software. The British Journal of Visual Impairment 24(2) (2006) ISSN 0264-6196
Marsto, J.R., Miele, J., Smith, E.: Large Print Map Automated Production (LPMAP). In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Cartographic Conference, Moscow, Russia (2007)
Kulyukin, V., Marston, J., Miele, J., Kutiyanawala, A.: Automated SVG Map Labeling for Customizable Large Print Maps for Low Vision Individuals. In: RESNA Annual Conference - Las Vegas, Nevada (2010)
Wagner, A.B.: Collaboratively Generated Content on the Audio-Tactile Map. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W., Karshmer, A. (eds.) ICCHP 2010. LNCS, vol. 6179, pp. 78–80. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Wang, Z., Li, B., Hedgpeth, T., Haven, T.: Instant Tactile-Audio Map: Enabling Access to Digital Maps for People with Visual Impairment. In: ASSETS 2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA (2009)
Brock, A., Truillet, P., Oriola, B., Jouffrais, C.: Usage of Multimodal Maps for Blind People: Why and How. In: ITS 2010, Saarbrucken, Germany (2010)
Paladugu, D.A., Wang, Z., Li, B.: On Presenting Audio-Tactile Maps to Visually Impaired Users for Getting Directions. In: CHI 2010. ACM, Atlanta (2010) ISSN: 978-1-60558-930-5/10/04
Thomas, K.E., Sripada, S., Noordzij, M.L.: Atlas.txt: exploring linguistic grounding techniques for communicating spatial information to blind users. In: Universal Access in the Information Society, pp. 1–14 (2010), doi: 10.1007/s10209-010-0217-5
McGookin, D., Brewster, S., Jiang, W.: Investigating Touchscreen Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments. In: NordiCHI 2008: Using Bridges, Lund, Sweden (2008)
Crossan, A., Williamson, J., Brewster, S.: Artex: artificial textures from every-day surfaces for touchscreens. In: CHI 2010, ACM, Atlanta (2010) ISSN 978-1-60558-930-5/10/04
McGookin, D., Brewster, S.: Eyes-Free Overviews for Mobile Map Applications. In: MobileHCI 2009. ACM, Bonn (2009) ISSN: 978-1-60558-281-8
Gustafson, S., Baudisch, P., Gutwin, C., Irani, P.: Wedge: Clutter-Free Visualization of Off-Screen Locations. In: CHI 2008, Florence, Italy (2008)
Apple. Accessibility, http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
Barbara, Ghiani, G., Leporini, B., Paternò, F.: Vibro-tactile Feedback to Aid Blind Users of Mobile Guides. The Journal of Visual Languages and Computing (JVLC), special issue "on Multimodal Interaction Through Haptic Feedback” 20(5(V20N5)) (October 2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Buzzi, M.C., Buzzi, M., Leporini, B., Martusciello, L. (2011). Making Visual Maps Accessible to the Blind. In: Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Users Diversity. UAHCI 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6766. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21663-3_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21663-3_29
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-21662-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-21663-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)