Citation

Trinh V, Manduchi R, Giudice NA. ACM Trans. Access. Comput. 2023; 16(2): 1-26.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Association for Computing Machinery)

DOI

10.1145/3590775

PMID

37427355

PMCID

PMC10327626

Abstract

In this article, we introduce Semantic Interior Mapology (SIM), a web app that allows anyone to quickly trace the floor plan of a building, generating a vectorized representation that can be automatically converted into a tactile map at the desired scale. The design of SIM is informed by a focus group with seven blind participants. Maps generated by SIM at two different scales have been tested by a user study with 10 participants, who were asked to perform a number of tasks designed to ascertain the spatial knowledge acquired through map exploration. These tasks included cross-map pointing and path finding, and determination of turn direction/walker orientation during imagined path traversal. By and large, participants were able to successfully complete the tasks, suggesting that these types of maps could be useful for pre-journey spatial learning.

Language: en

Keywords

Tactile maps