THE NEW WAY OF MAPPING – MAPS THAT ARE TOUCHABLE AND HEARABLE

Shirley Lan Bao (WHS)

Maps are crucial to our everyday lives. They represent the real world on a much smaller scale, help us find where things are, and help us get from one place to another. Map reading is also taught in many schools as a foundational skill that is needed to develop other knowledge and abilities. It is hard to imagine a time where we aren’t able to read maps - we use them so often: Paper ones we buy on holiday, GPS fitted on our cars or the world map which many have in their study. However, there is a large group of people who cannot have access to this. In the UK alone, almost 2 million people are suffering from sight loss. Of these, around 360,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted. So how are they able to do map-reading like us? The world’s first atlas for the blind was created in 1837 in the US, made by Samuel Gridley Howe to help children at the New England Institute for the Education of the Blind. It was the first time that an atlas was created in braille , and ultimately marked the first time that people with visual impairments can experience the landforms of countries. This atlas composed of images of each state, along with borders, rivers and mountain ranges. Howe represented the geographical features on the map using different textured graving: borders were represented with dotted lines, and rivers by smooth lines, each protruding from the page. Accompanying this was texts in braille, explaining the geographical features of each state. Nowadays, this type of mapping is still available and is referred to as tactile maps. They too are read by touch and contain different elevations to represent different features. Tactile maps are usually created through 3D printing, today, is the fastest and most convenient way of producing these kinds of maps. However, in the 21st century, paper maps are no longer the most dominant type of maps as people start to prefer something more convenient, and “up-to-date.” The invention of digitalised maps simplified our lives greatly. Instead of having to flick through numerous pages to find the destination we are searching for, we can simply just type it in our search engine; and our digital map will do it for us. The fact that the map of the whole world can be stored in something as little as a smartphone undoubtedly adds to its popularity. Easy to access. Easy to carry. Easy to use. However, this is unfortunately not the case for those with visual impairments. Tactile maps still only have the ability to show the landforms of one particular area. They also are not only hard to carry and inconvenient to use but also extremely behind technology-wise. In order for someone visually impaired to navigate around town, they would have to carry numerous tactile maps with them. This was changed through the release of the iPhone 3GS in 2009, the first phone to have the function of a voiceover. It also marked the first time that the blind and visually impaired community was able to use a fully functioning phone (one that is not made especially for the disabled) without the help of another person. The software of voiceover, which is preinstalled on every Apple device, reads out loud what is on the screen when we tap on it. This technology is undoubtedly a long-awaited breakthrough, marking the beginning of the era of technology for the visually impaired community. It is through the technology of voiceover that modern maps for visually impaired began to develop. The first enterprise to do this was Google, via its notorious map app: Google Maps. This initiative was spearheaded by Wakana Sugiyama, a Tokyo based business analyst at Google who is legally blind. According to her, going from her home to her office is easy, as she is familiar with the route, but venturing to some places where she doesn’t have previous experience can be very intimidating. “Some of my most pressing concerns include knowing if I’m going the right way or if a street is safe to cross,” She says. This new Google Maps initiative is that users would be able to activate a new feature which allows them to receive more verbal updates about their trip. Announcements, alerts, warnings and compass directions are also all provided. Furthermore, this feature is not only for those with visual defects but is also accessible for those having difficulty looking down at their screens. This includes parents with strollers, people with poor vision, etc. The advancement of this technology undoubtedly received a big praise and excitement from multiple countries, and more and more enterprises, such as Apple begin to follow suit in developing maps and software accessible for those with visual impairments. It was a major step in the improvement of the lives of the visually impaired and blind community. Luckily, in the 21st century, we are more aware of the issues to do with visual impairments, and more and more improvements are made to ameliorate the lives of the visually impaired and blind community. There has been a surge in the number of charities helping those in need, along with new inventions every day helping the disabled. With maps now both touchable and hearable, it is close to the time when we can make technology available for all. Bibliography

NHS UK. Blindness and Vision Loss www.nhs.uk Braille Works. History of Braille. www.brailleworks.com. Mappenstance Atlas for the Blind. www.blog.richmond.edu Murillo. S from The Chicago Lighthouse. How do people who are blind and visually impaired use the Iphone? www. chicagolighthouse.org Magistretti. B from Forbes. Google Maps launches a new feature to help the visually impaired with navigation. www.Forbes.com Mapy.cz. What are tactile maps and who are they for? www.napoveda.seznam.cz