[accessibleimage] Re: maps for the blind

Not to be outdone, the London Underground has started to address blind people's access requirements. I always found it pretty good when I had a bit more sight, because the print maps and signs were very clear and large. Now, however, they are having to look at more fundamental problems of totally blind people. 

See the RNIB page about the new tactile maps.

http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_tactiletube.hcsp#P11_424
At the moment the maps cover just Old Street, Westminster and Earl's Court, so this is very much a pilot project. Text descriptions of the system, its zones and stations are available from Describe Online. 

http://www.describe-online.com/
The tactile maps can be obtained free from London Underground Customer Service Centre, Tel. 0845 330 9880 in the UK. I'm not sure there's an international equivalent number, but see www.thetube.com/ for general information. 

Vince.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Karen Gourgey" <karen_gourgey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 5:03 PM
Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: maps for the blind



Hi Lori and All,
I too am a totally blind pedestrian, who has traveled both with cane and dog. I am blind from birth, and I have some asymmetrical hearing loss. I can usually detect curves in a path, and I certainly think that tactile maps depicting routes should reflect the basic outline of the route, including curves. When we did our maps in the '90's of the New York city Subway system, we produced one set of maps that were overviews, i.e. they showed the ways in which the various subway lines wove through the city and at times intersected with each other. We also produced strip maps for each individual subway line. Here the goal was to show and give information about all stops along a particular line. The concept was similar to that used by Joe Wiedel when he did maps of the Washington D.C. subway system. The strip maps are event maps, where we elected to leave out the shape of the route, and concentrate on basic information regarding stops, and characteristics of each station, such as whether one was leaving the train on to a platform with tracks on one or both sides. I think the map maker and map user need to decide collaboratively what are the information essentials to be communicated in any given situation. Personally, I appreciate any uncluttered, simple map that gives me the basic shape of a route. Once I have that, I can fill in my "points of interest" and they become details of the cognitive map that lives in my head. 

Thanks for listening.

Best,

Karen


Karen Luxton Gourgey Ed.D
Director, Computer Center for Visually Impaired People
Baruch College, City University of New York
1 Bernard Baruch Way box H-0648
New York, NY 10010
Phone: (646) 312-1426
Fax: (646) 312-1421
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/ccvip
----- Original Message ----- From: "Kaizen Program" <kaizen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 6:49 AM
Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: maps for the blind



Hi Lori,

You are not alone.
I am now totally blind, although I had vision for the first 39 years of my 
life, gradually decreasing from full vision to very little before losing
all. I travel with a cane. I can definitely detect changes in the direction 
of paths most of the time. During the past few years I have experienced
some hearing loss, a little more in the right ear than in the left ear,
which interferes with my sense of direction, but doesn't stop me from
noticing changes in direction of a path. It  just interferes with my
figuring
out where sounds are coming from. I, like you, find it helpful to have maps that depict whether or not the path is straight or angles. I also generally appreciate knowing the basic layout of a route so I can figure out where I 
am
going more easily, even though I can be overwhelmed by cluttered tactile
maps, especially if they are not clearly labeled, or require moving too much 
from the map to a key to figure out the labeling code.

I am not sure if valuing tactile maps of routes is something that is more
important
for people who have previously had vision than for those who never saw. I also don't know if blind people who have learned to use maps to gain an idea 
of
the overall layout of places find this relevant while those who aren't used 
to using tactile maps find it less helpful.
I just finished reading the book, Touching for Knowing: Cognitive psychology 
of haptic manual perception
Edited by
Yvette Hatwell
Universite Pierre Mendes-France, Grenoble
Arlette Streri
Edouard Gentaz
Universite Rene Descartes and Centre National de 7a Recherche Scientifique 
John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam/ Philadelphia
Translated (and updated) from: Y. Hatwell, A. Streri and E. Gentaz (2000). 
Toucher pour connaitre. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Toucher pour connaitre. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

It is a very interesting book.

One article in particular deals with tactile maps: The tactile reading of
maps and drawings, and the access of blind people to works of art by Yvette Hatwell and Francoise Martinez-Sarrochi. They seem to say that people with 
some vision and those with some previous vision might benefit most from
tactile maps.

I think it can be a complex question because blind people often differ
greatly in past experiences, past sensory capacities, current sensory
capacities, including specifics of vision limitations, hearing limitations, 
and tactal capacities, as well as age of onset of blindness (very young,
middle-life or older), etc. and kind and amount of developed skills.
I don't think that laboratory tests can necessarily deal with all of these 
complexities fully or adequately because they can be so interrelated.

Personally, I really hope we will have more and more good tactile maps of
local areas as time goes on.

Have a happy new year.

Sylvie
----- Original Message ----- From: "Lori" <twilight2@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 6:40 PM
Subject: [accessibleimage] maps for the blind


Hi all,

My apologies if this has already been discussed here or if it isn't
apropriate for the list, but after reading the messages about production of 
maps and someone mentioning in an article that they can't distinguish a
curve, etc, I thought I should post.
I'm just curious. I'm a totally blind pedestrian who has traveled both with cane and dog guide. I would say a good percentage of the time I am aware of 
any alteration in direction of travel or even subtle changes. I find it
helpful to have maps that depict whether or not the path is straight or
angles. I'm not alone, am I?

Lori















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