Audiom

Audiom is a tool that allows blind and visually impaired individuals to view maps completely in audio. It is a web component and can be embedded into any webpage, similar to Google Maps. It allows non-visual access to route, landmark, and survey knowledge, which is the critical information needed for navigation. It can also show large maps, such as the globe, and communicate information such as the shape of Italy and what Italy borders with.

Audiom is based off the conventions found in audio games, which are games that can be played completely in audio. Almost all audio games display map information, and each game has been rigorously tested under the demands of a commercial environment (If the interface is too difficult, users won't play the game). This is what we called a "natural laboratory" in our 2018 paper at the International Conference on Auditory Display. Audiom takes the conventions present in audio games and applies those conventions to real world data.