Accessing Geography

Reflections on Procedures for Learning Environments Without the Use of Sight

Reginald G. Golledge

This article dealt specifically with how individuals who are visually impaired deal with the geospatial domain. Geography has traditionally represented its data in mostly visual representations. It is difficult to consider doing geography without the use of the sense of sight. Usually when one thinks of geography, they think of maps, tables, images, videos, photographs, sketches, etc. It is difficult for the visually impaired to have a good spatial sense of these modes of representation. There are alternative modes of representation that can make accessing the topic of geography accessible for the visually impaired. These alternate forms include:

1. Wall and table mounted relief maps.
2. Tactile maps and models.
3. Auditory maps.
4. Descriptions using spatial language.
5. Tactile-audio information systems.
6. Sonic environments.
7. Haptic and Vibrotactile maps (computer interface environment)

Tactile Maps

Instead of using flat maps, 3-D maps and models allow the individual to touch and explore shape, location, proximity, distance, direction, and other essential spatial properties of the real world. For those who are visually impaired, the sense of touch can become very important for knowledge acquisition.

One of the coolest things I read about in this article was the microcapsule paper. All you have to do is photocopy a particular setting on a piece of microcapsule paper and then expose it to heat. Once you apply the paper to heat the image will enlarge up to 2 millimetres above the surrounding area. Then the individual would have a tactile map that is on an ordinary piece of paper. This could allow the person access to a college campus, park, etc. The paper only costs a $1 a sheet. How cool would that be!

Auditory Maps

The author of this article talks about the best auditory map out there for the visually impaired, the Personal Guidance System (PGS). This system tracks the individual by GPS. The GPS continually updates the location in real space every second and updates location simultaneously in a digital base map carried by the traveler in a wearable computer. As the traveler moves through a setting such as a college campus, buildings and other features identify themselves in a virtual auditory world so that a mental map of the environment in which travel takes place can be compiled (Golledge, 2005, p.6).

Spatial Language

Spatial language is useful for providing general and relative spatial information to visually impaired people, but it requires expert training to get the type of precision required to build a realistically proportional representation of a real world environment (Golledge, 2005, p.7).

Tactile-Audio Information Systems

The Haptic map is the electronic equivalent of a tactile map. This type of map requires the use of virtual walls and a tactile or vibrotactile interface, usually a joystick or mouse, that will allow a user to “feel” an on-screen flat representation (Golledge, 2005, p.9)