Navigating maps with little or no sight: An audio-tactile approach 
R. Dan Jacobson 
Department of Geography 
University of California 
Santa Barbara, CA 93106 USA 
djacobson@geog.ucsb.edu 
Abstract 
This paper first presents a review of the 
options available for conveying maps and 
graphics to visually impaired and blind 
people. A novel audio-tactile methodology 
is described, and the results from its pilot 
study reported. Communication of spatial 
media, such as map, is problematic without 
sight. Tactile perception is serial rather 
than synoptic. By building a working 
model of the environment that is uses both 
tactile and auditory feedback, a map is 
made far more accessible. Results from the 
pilot study demonstrated simplicity and 
enjoyment of use of this novel approach 
which integrates speech, verbal landmarks, 
earcons and recorded environmental sound 
to build a small spatial hypermedia system. 
Introduction 
Whether blind, visually impaired, or sighted, 
our quality of life is greatly dependent on our 
ability to make informed spatial decisions. 
Space is fundamental to human existence and 
has great influence on human thinking. Access 
to representations of the geographic world (a 
map for example) are frequently denied a blind 
individual due to his or her lack of sight. For a 
long time tactile maps have sought to solve this 
problem. Tactile maps are static, cumbersome 
to create and have many associated 
cartographic problems. The fingertip's 
resolution is far less than the eye, it perceives 
serially - its "bandwidth" is very low 
compared to vision. The sighted cartographer 
is faced with the problems of simplification, 
95 
generalisation, classification and symbolisation 
to render a visual map tactile. A common 
problem with tactile maps is labelling. Braille 
labelling is inflexible and when enough labels 
are applied to facilitate suitable understanding 
the map often becomes cluttered and illegible 
(Tatham 1991). Using labels in a separate 
legend or key reduces the immediacy of the 
graphic and introduces interpretative problems 
as referencing is disrupted (Hinton 1993). 
Technologies are evolving to help address 
some of these problems. The aim of this 
research is to create a way of accessing map 
information that is easy to learn and use, and 
supports interaction that is natural, flexible and 
efficient. It is hoped that this will expand the 
availability of maps to a broader spectrum of 
the population. 
1 Enhancements and alternatives to 
conventional tactile maps 
Techniques for producing hardcopy tactile 
maps have improved (eg Andrews, 1988), 
however, the perceptual constraints remain the 
same - fingertip resolution and a "static" 
media. Moving from one map to an adjacent 
map is physically clumsy and awkward. There 
have been two major developments. Firstly, the 
use of computer technology for the generation 
of the art work that produces ther tactile map. 
Secondly computer systems to assist the 
reading of the tactile map. 
1.1 Automated tactilemap creation 
Geographic Information Systems (GIS - 
loosely defined as a spatial database) can be 
used as a way to store, manage and manipulate 
spatial information for the generation of tactile 
maps. Coulson (1991) pioneered the use of a 
GIS, exploiting its cartographic functionality, 
for the production of tactile maps. A sighted 
operator would create a map, first plotted on 
paper then rendered tactile by microcapsule 
paper. The structure of data stored on a GIS 
and the ways in which this can be accessed are 
beneficial to this map manipulation and 
management. 
1.2 Augmented tactile maps 
An alternative solution has been to develop 
audio-based systems that link sound with 
touch, enhancing the tactile map with the 
addition of audio. For example, when a raised 
area on a tactile map is touched a 
corresponding sound label is triggered. Two 
such systems include NOMAD (Parkes 1988) 
and 'talking tactile maps' (Blenkhorn and 
Evans 1994). Fanstone (1995) has exploited 
the GIS capabilities of NOMAD to build a 
hierarchical audio-tactile GIS of Nottingham 
University campus. Access within a map is 
very efficient users reporting enjoyment and 
ease of use (Jacobson, 1996), However, access 
from one map to the next remains problematic. 
For example to 'zoom in' or to move to an 
adjacent the user has to locate the speech label 
indicating that it is possible to zoom in. Then 
remove the tactile map, search for another 
tactile map, register this on the touchpad and 
then continue map exploration. This break in 
the continuum of map reading is disrupting and 
confusing. 
1.3 Novel digital technologies 
One development that has great potential to 
solve this problem is hypermedia. Hypermedia 
which comprises of text, still imagery, sound 
recordings (even tactile and olfactory output) 
is a network of information 'linked 
electronically by multiple routes, chains, or 
trails in an open-ended, perceptually 
unfinished assemblage described best in terms 
of links, nodes, networks, webs and paths' 
(Landow 1992, p.3). A well known example of 
a hypermedia environment would be the World 
Wide Web. Within a hypermedia environment 
a user can navigate between textual and 
cartographic information nodes in order to get 
a well documented, multi-faceted 
representation of space, from varied sources 
and differing viewpoints (Milleret-Raffort 
1995). A hypermedia document (if structured 
correctly) should allow a seamless navigation 
through the document, passing through various 
media, following a line of thought or inquiry. 
Conventional hypermedia systems are 
designed for predominantly visual in nature. 
They can, however, also offer people with 
visual impairments a way of exploring the 
world (Jacobson and Kitchin, in press) 
Non-visual hypermedia systems seek to 
provide sensory substitution with spoken audio 
information replacing textual and image based 
information. Such a system now exists for 
blind users on the World Wide Web 
(Webspeak 1995). Here, images are bypassed, 
textual information is converted to speech, and 
hypertext links are explained. There has been 
a long period of development of auditory 
alternatives to the visually dominant Graphical 
User Interface (GUI), for example, Soundtrack 
(Edwards, 1989); Karshmer and Oliver (1993); 
The Graphical User Interface for Blind People 
Project (GUIB- Savidis and Stephanidis, 
1995); the Mercator Project (Mynatt, 1997). 
These developments are important as they 
allow a blind user to work in parallel with their 
sighted counterpart. However, the development 
of systems for accessing spatial information 
(map-like information, rather than pull-down 
menus and screen icons) has been lacking. 
There are few notable exceptions (see Kurze 
and Holmes, 1996; Kurze 1997). Maps are of 
crucial importance, as they have the ability to 
not only present information with an academic 
view of the world but have the potential to 
impact on the daily living problems facing 
blind people. As such they can lead to an 
improved quality of life through enhanced, 
orientation, mobility and independence. 
2 Preliminary GIS and web studies 
Research undertaken at the Univeristy of 
Wales, Aberystwyth, UK between 1994 and 
1996 explored the potential of GIS and 
96 
hypermedia for communicating spatial 
information to blind and visually imapaired 
people. 
A GIS front end, ArcView, was used to 
construct a spatial system for visually impaired 
people (legally blind, but with some residual 
vision). The GUI was stripped down and many 
unnecessary component buttons and menus 
removed. The final system worked in two 
modes, a low vision zoom and pan query mode 
which displayed a map of the campus. With a 
single mouse click users could zoom-in to the 
area selected. By re-clicking the mouse button 
the user continued zooming-in until the area in 
question filled the display. With a further click 
an audio file was played, 'speaking' the name 
of the building. Finally a large photograph of 
the building was displayed. In the second mode 
the user typed in the name or function of the 
building (for example 'Llandinam Building' or 
'Earth Sciences') a map Was then displayed of 
the campus and subsequent maps, each 
displayed after a mouse click zoomed the user 
in to the building requested (see Jaeobson and 
Kitchin, in press.) 
As such, ArcView was effectively reduced to a 
point-and-click hypermedia system. Users of 
the system expressed great interest and 
excitement asking 'can you do this for the 
town centre'; 'Now I can experience places I 
would never visit'. Due to the 'simplicity' of 
the final slimmed down version of ArcView 
and to allow optimum access and usability it 
was decided to continue with the project using 
the World Wide Web environment. 
A series of hypermap World Wide Web pages 
were built allowing the user to navigate 
between low vision maps and spoken textual 
screens. The interface utilised large font 
hypertext mark-up language (HTML), and at 
the bottom fight the screen magnifying 
software. Large scale abstracted and 
simplified maps were used to convey spatial 
information. An enhanced cursor is used to 
follow links, when a shape on the map is 
queried an audio file was displayed describing 
the building. This interface enabled users to 
access the low vision and spoken maps 
remotely. 
3. Protoype and pilot study of audio- 
tactile system 
The prototype used a low specification PC 
(DX4-100 processor, 16 megabytes of ram, 
and a 16bit souncard) The touch pad and 
associated software retail for around $300 and 
will work with any windows based PC. The 
touch pad can be attached to a monitor so a 
user with limited vision is able to view the 
screen, or used at table-top level where a 
totally blind individual is able to scan the pad 
with their fingertips. Spatial information is 
presented as an auditory map. Areas of the 
touch pad are overlain with sound, when the 
map users finger enters the designated area the 
sound is played. By touching areas of the pad 
users were able to determine the size and shape 
of a map feature by the change in sound. A 
collection of sounds are used to represent map 
information usually conveyed by visual 
symbols (text, color, line style, shape etc.). An 
off-line World Wide Web site is being built 
which utilizes interlinking auditory maps that 
can be traversed solely by sound and touch. As 
the user's finger is dragged across the touch 
pad, the system 'talks', playing audio files 
which are triggered by the position of the 
user's finger. By the use of spoken audio, 
verbal landmarks, environmental audio (such 
as traffic noise for a road) and auditory icons 
(earcons - Blattner et al.,1989) to denote 
specific events like the edge of a map, a link to 
further maps, or for the user to press for more 
information, an audio-tactile hypermedia is 
constructed conveying cartographic 
information. 
Rather than direct manipulation of a tactile 
surface, such as pressing on the tactile maps in 
NOMAD, this system uses a touch pad. 
Therefore the user has no direct cutaneous 
stimulus from tactile relief. The encoding from 
the audio-tactile stimulus meant that map 
97 
Figure 1: Overview of sample audio-tactile map information (main map in pilot study) 
I 
7 l 
1 
i 
I 
i 
l 
12 ! 
6 8 I~ 4 
SOUTH 1 
(a) Screen dump of main audio tactile map (numbers refer to l(c)) 
Press to go 
home to main 
man 
I 1 North Island 
Waves - \[ 
Press Western 
to go Ocean 
west 
Press to g~ b":'-ck~ @ \[ 
To previous map 
Pre.~q tn en noah 
Elephant - \[ 
tea farl nar'lc 
Water \] 
bubbles 
Crickets 
marshy area 
Car zTassine - 
I Car horn - Congested road 
M1 I 
+:.'+:.'.:.::+:,:.:.:.::.:.:.:.:-:.:+:.:.:.: 
-.::.:+:.:.:-:+:.:+:+:.:+:+:+:.:.:.:.:. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
i 
Press to get 
Help screen 
13 
- Press 
to go 
east 
Press to get 
information 
about this 
Pregq tn an ~n.th t~aRe 
(b) Audio overlay on visual map (dark text - indicates the playing of an environmental sound) 
1 To the south is a large conurbation: An area of many cities 
2 To the north is an area of rolling farmland 
3 To the west is a windy ocean 
4 To the east is a hot dusty plain 
5 The safari park has many animals from East Afi'ica 
6 The lake is a popular escape for the city people during the hot summer months 
7 Trains travel from the city into the wine country 
g Open space and farmland around the city 
9 Many boats trawl the sea for shoals of cod 
10 North island is home to a large colony of seabirds 
11 South island is used for missile testing 
12 The marsh is an area once filled by the sea, now unsuitable for development 
13 The main map shows a city and its surroundings. To The west is an ocean. In the 
south west Is the city. To the north a train line, to the east a motorway and to the 
eastern fring~ a marsh. 
(c) Links to verbal information from the main scro-tactile map information (main map in pilot study) 
98 
information is built up from kinaesthetic sensing 
of movement across the. pad, sensing of the 
distance traversed across the pad, proprioceptive 
sensing of the location of the fingers and 
location information obtained by referencing 
with the hands to the outside frame of the touch 
pad. Linking enables a blind user to traverse 
from one auditory map to another. As each map 
loads, a verbal overview describing the map is 
played. From all maps there is direct access to a 
help screen that explains the system and the 
modes of interaction. 
Figure l(a) displays the simple user interface for 
the auditory hypermap system. As the map 
-reader's finger moves across the touch pad and 
over the "SOUTIT' bar the audio message "Press 
to go south" is played. Once this part of the 
touchpad is pressed the central area is filled with 
an auditory map to the south of the previous one. 
If no maps are available, this is verbally relayed 
to the user. North, west and east all work in a 
similar manner. Home returns the user to the 
main auditory map. The help button explains 
how to use the system. When exiting from help 
the user is returned to the correct map. The "i" 
button plays information about the map in view 
(e.g., 'this is the city area map. Downtown is in 
the north of the urban area, and the harbor to the 
west etc.'). The back and forward buttons allow 
the user to traverse through the 'history' of their 
links 
3.1 Methodolgy 
content, stucture or links between the maps. 
During the evaluation phase individuals had 15 
minutes to navigate through and explore the 
maps. They were told that they were free to go 
where they wished and to return to places 
previously visited. At the end of this 15 minute 
period, the computer was turned off and the 
participant gave a verbal desfiption of the maps 
and map-layout imaging they had to explain the 
maps to somebody over a telephone. The 
participant then graphical reconstructed the 
maps using a tactile drawing pad which enables 
a blind user to feel what they are drawing. The 
whole process was videotaped and a log made of 
peoples paths through the audio-tactile maps. 
Semi structured interviews were used to get 
impressions of the system, feedback on how it 
could be improved and for ideas of where it may 
be beneficial (such as in schools or at tourist 
sites). 
3.2 Results 
All users were able to successfully interact with 
the system. This included people who had never 
used a computer before. Interview responses 
suggest that the system aroused great interest 
and that map access was 'simple, satisfying and 
fun' (totally blind participant). Users were able 
to both graphically and verbally reconstruct the 
maps with varying degrees of accuracy. Further 
evluation is planned to directly compare these 
results to tactile map access of the same scenes. 
Figure 2 shows a graphical reconstruction by a 
visually impaired map user, and figure 3 a 
graphical reconstruction by a totally blind 
participant 
Evaluation of the system involved 5 visually 
impaired people and 5 blind people. The system 
was evaluated invidually. Initial training took 
place for 15 minutes using the help screen of the 
model. Users were familiarised with the 
touchpad, were shown how to follow a link, 
obtain more verbal information, and to follow a 
link. The structure of the menu surrounding the 
map was explained (buttons north, south etc.) 
and the function of the buttons to go back and 
home shown. Questions were answered and 
people familiafised themselves with the system, 
There were given no information about the 
99 
The audio-tactile hypermap system was 
designed as a prototype to explore the 
possibilities for conveying spatial information in 
this 'touch-audio' manner. Ultimately it is 
intended that such a system could act as a front 
end to a more fully functional GIS, enabling the 
selection and presentation of map like 
information to visually impaired people. For 
example, to construct a map of 'y' town showing 
roads, location of crossings and public 
conveniences, all at the request of the user. 
Figure 2 : Graphic reconsruction by visually 
impaired individual 
Figure 3 : Graphic reconstruction by a totally 
blind individual 
and graphics. Krygier 1994 outlined auditor~ 
cartography and Blattner et al., 1994 hav; 
worked on the sonic enhancement of two 
dimensional graphic displays. Clearly there i: 
the need for visually impaired people to b; 
active participants in the research process an~ 
for the process to be user-led with frequen 
validation 
Conclusion 
This research is highly relevent and ha. 
implications beyond the blind community that i 
is targeted at. New internet developments offe 
great potential. The internet is widely used 
commonplace and rapidly expanding. Th 
internet can potentially distribute informatio- 
from anywhere to anywhere. The nature of th 
protocols such as VRML and HTML offer good 
approaches and techniques so a non-expert ca- 
build information is readily aecesible to blind 
and visually impaired people. This novel audio 
tactile approach offers, a dynamic, flexible, lov 
sost media for the presentation of spatia 
information. 
4 Future research 
There is a need for future research to address the 
further development and use of new interface 
technologies such as voice recognition, touch 
screens and tactile displays. Probably the most 
pressing need is to improve the user interface, as 
this is the largest barrier to successful and 
meaningful interactions with representations of 
spatial information. There have been several 
novel and interesting approaches that require 
further investigation. A vibro-tactile mouse 
which registers the mouse's position over a 
desired spatial object on a map (Nissen 1997), 
tonal interfaces for computer interaction (Alty 
1996), and 'The Voice' which can convert a two 
dimensional picture, map or representation into a 
'tonal soundseape' (Meijers 1993, 1997). Much 
of GUI of this research could be directed at 
conveying representations of the real world 
(maps) to blind people in order to develop fully 
functional non-visual GIS systems. Further 
research is needed on the sonifieation of maps 
Because this audio-tactile mapping syster. 
resides within the protocols of the world wid 
web it means that the maps can be accesse., 
audio-visually by sighted people using : 
conventional mouse. With the addition of th 
touch pad a partially or totally blind user is abl 
to remotely access the content of the auditor. 
maps from any computer with an interne 
connection. By adopting a 'design for all 
approach the spectrum of people able to acces 
map and graphic information is increased t. 
include not only people with limited vision, bu 
also potentially children, the elderly and peopl 
with learning disabilities. 
Visually impaired people's need for spatiz 
information is greater that their sighte. 
counterparts as they are unable to (fully 
perceive the environment through vision. Thi 
lack of visual perception severely limit 
independent travel. The computing comrnunit 
is in a unique position to address this need an 
improve the quality of life for people with visu~ 
impairments by increasing the capacity fG 
independent travel and education throug 
i00 
"obility and learning aids. 
cknowledgements 
ur thanks go to all the participants in Belfast, 
orthern Ireland who offered their time to 
articipate in the pilot study. 

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