The following announcement from the Smith-Kettlewell Institute in San Francisco will be of interest to many, I think. Please feel free to forward the following message to colleagues who might be interested. ----- I wanted to let the list know about a project currently under way here at The Smith-Kett lewell Eye Research Institute to provide tactile street maps over the web. The system uses a server-based geographic information system (GIS), and will be able to produce tactile graphics files properly prepared for standard Braille embossers, swell paper, ViewPlus Tiger embossers, or other tactile output devices. Ultimately, The software will be available as an on-line service that allows anyone to request a tactile street map of any location at any scale, download the files and emboss or render the tactile map immediately. The street maps are automatically produced with appropriate information density, Braille labels, and simple line figures, to optimize their use by a blind map reader. The user will have a high degree of flexibility over how an individual map appears, the kinds of features represented, labeling style, and map key information. Currently the GIS that we are using (TIGER Line Maps from the US Census Bureau) includes only USA data, but in the future, it will be possible to use richer data sources that include street information on a more global basis. We will be presenting an update and demo of this project at the up-coming CSUN conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities in LA on March 17th. If you are interested in learning more about this project or the presentation, or would like to become a beta tester of the service, please visit http://www.ski.org/tmap -- Janina Sajka Email: janina at rednote.net Phone: +1 (202) 408-8175 Director, Technology Research and Development American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) http://www.afb.org Chair, Accessibility Work Group Free Standards Group http://a11y.org
