AmauroMap is
derived from "amaurosis", the Greek word for blindness or extremely
impaired vision and indicates a map for blind or visually impaired people.
However, it is not meant to be an analogue tactile map that can be touched by
users, but an interactive online map to help in preparing for trips.
AmauroMap! Why?
AmauroMap
researches accessible city maps for the internet and aims to help blind
people to live more independent lives. While the results of route planning can be
made available for blind people as spoken instructions, the use of online city
maps remains prohibitive for blind people. Conventional routing instructions
such as “turn left after 150 meters” offer a very linear means of accessing
spatial information. Although blind people are directed from A to B, a great
deal of spatial information passes them unnoticed.
AmauroMap
offers a new form of spatial description in that it attempts to show blind
people an area as a whole. Unlike route planners, the innovativeness of the
application lies in the fact that the blind are not guided in a linear fashion
through the city. Instead, they are offered the possibility to experience and
understand city spaces, streets, places, parks, etc. as spatial constructs.
Currently, we know of no other projects that seek to make internet city maps
barrier-free.
AmauroMap!
How?
The project
will be realised using existing applications, empirical information and
descriptive mechanisms that remain to be developed in an effort to remove one
of the last barriers of the Internet. AmauroMap attempts to prepare digital
city maps for the blind in such a way that they are transformed into cognitive
maps (mental maps) that bring city structures closer to them. Descriptions of
housing blocks, streets, and green spaces as well as audible, tactile and
“smellable” locations and their combination to cognitive maps will
automatically be derived from modern vector maps so that an application
covering a large area can be created. To this end, through qualitative
interviews it can be determined how spatial descriptions must be provided, so
that the target group is able to use and understand them. For the programming
of the prototype, open source software and free datasets will be applied to
the extent possible. Spatial information will be provided using screenreader software. The project AmauroMap is supported by the Internet Foundation Austria IPA
within the Netidee programme.
