How do blind and visually-impaired people learn their way around new places? Sighted people often use maps, but obviously people with significant visual disabilities cannot simply pick up a street map and read it. Instead, they need tactile street maps: maps with raised markings indicating streets and other important landmarks. Until recently tactile street maps have been difficult to obtain because they needed to be hand-made.
The limited availability of tactile street maps will soon be only a memory due to an innovative new Smith-Kettlewell project called Tactile Maps Automated Production, or TMAP. This revolutionary tool has significant implications for education, orientation, and mobility of blind and visually-impaired travelers. TMAP was initiated by Dr. Joshua A. Miele, a young scientist at Smith-Kettlewell, who invented the system because of his own frustration with the lack of available tactile street maps.
The online system offers downloadable tactile street maps of any location in the US. Once the files are downloaded, maps can be produced on a Braille embosser, a printer which makes raised dots instead of using ink.
The TMAP user is able to customize the maps according to their needs and wishes. For example, map labeling may be in Braille or raised print, specific paths of travel or locations of important facilities such as train stations may be indicated. Because clutter is a critical factor in the readability of tactile maps, TMAP displays only the features relevant at the selected scale. For instance, only major streets are shown if a map of a large area is to be produced.
Another exciting aspect of TMAP involves the automated production of audio/tactile street maps. Based on our system, Touch Graphics, Inc. is currently developing a product called TMAP Reader. In this system, a touch-sensitive tablet is placed beneath a tactile map, and a computer speaks the names of places on the map as they are pressed with a fingertip. This allows much more location information to be provided, and enables the maps to be used even by those who cannot read Braille.
The TMAP project has been funded by Smith-Kettlewell, the National Eye Institute, and the National Institute On Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Industry partners include Touch Graphics, Inc., and View Plus, Inc. The project is still active, and funding for the next stage of development is currently being sought.