[accessibleimage] research on talking tactile neighborhood maps

Press Release: November 18, 2005

Touch Graphics, Inc. is now carrying out research on a system for creating
on-the-fly talking tactile neighborhood maps for use in Orientation and
Mobility training.  A user will visit the TMAP website, hosted by Smith
Kettelwell Eye Research Institute, and enter any address or street
intersection in the United States.  They will be sent the map as a computer
file that can be output to a Braille embosser.  Once the map has been
embossed, they will place it on a Talking Tactile Tablet (TTT), and then
explore the map by touching it.  When they press down on any street shown on
the map, they will hear the name of the street and other information, such
as the addresses of buildings on a particular block, direction of traffic,
and so on.  Important landmarks, like parks, rivers and public buildings,
will also be shown.

This work is being carried out in collaboration with Smith Kettelwell,
creators of the TMAP site, and the Helen Keller National Center in Sands
Point, New York. Preliminary findings will be shared at the CSUN conference
in Los Angeles in March, 2006.  The work has been funded by a Phase 1 SBIR
grant from the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research,
United States Department of Education.

For more information, please contact sl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, or visit
www.touchgraphics.com.

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