Does it sound fantastic and unbelievable? Yet it is possible. With few gadgets and help it can be produced easyly, practically at any school for pupils or even at home, may you be equipped with appropriate devices.
The project Haptické mapy (Tactile maps) on the platform seznam.cz is successfully run by ELSA centre in Prague, Teiresias Centre of Masaryk University in Brno and seznam.cz. The project rely on real online maps, which can be transformed to a picture adapted for printing in swell-paper form and then read by touch. Standard map source is converted to a simplified black-and-white picture following the principles of tactile perception.
Conversion of the selected area of a map to printable black and white picture is possible Using the online tool on the portal of hapticke.mapy.cz. Tactile maps are available in 3 scales, which are described on the portal in detail. It is possible to print larger maps of cities but also small area maps with street names in braille.
Do you wish to show your blind student a general picture of the city? Where the main tram routes lead? Or even how to navigate from the flat to a closest grocery store? Sure, all can be done with GPS navigation or other devicesand technologies. But nothing can bring a better picture about the route and its surroundings than a tactile map. Those who have a gift of spatial imagination can quickly grasp the genreal idea of the district of the city and orient themselves with more independence.
Very precise step-by-step guide through the process of map production is available in the help centre of seznam.cz.
All about the project; how it works, how to get maps or contact information can be found on the webpage of blindfriendly maps.
The map does not necessarily need to be produced on your own. The service of map creation is available for whole Europe. Different producers and access points are ready to help you with the process.