Blind Friendly Maps: Tactile Maps for the Blind as a Part of the Public Map Portal (Mapy.cz)

TL;DR

This paper presents a system enabling blind users to access tactile maps via Mapy.cz, utilizing automatically adjusted map underlays printed on microcapsule paper, allowing quick and accessible map exploration within the Czech Republic.

Contribution

Introduction of an automated method for creating tactile map underlays for blind users integrated into a public map portal.

Findings

Tactile maps can be produced in minutes.

Users can select and print maps of specific areas.

The system enhances map accessibility for the blind.

Abstract

Blind people can now use maps located at Mapy.cz, thanks to the long-standing joint efforts of the ELSA Center at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Teiresias Center at Masaryk University, and the company Seznam.cz. Conventional map underlays are automatically adjusted so that they could be read through touch after being printed on microcapsule paper, which opens a whole new perspective in the use of tactile maps. Users may select an area of their choice in the Czech Republic (only within its boundaries, for the time being) and also the production of tactile maps, including the preparation of the map underlays, takes no more than several minutes.