Accessible tactile 3D printed restroom maps

If you are blind, when you visit a restroom by default you will end up touching many more things than sighted people to find the same facilities. Wouldn’t it be great to minimize contact with things you wouldn’t need to touch in the first place?

This is why I invented the accessible tactile 3D printed restroom maps.

When a blind person visits a restroom, before they enter they can quickly examine a map of the exact layout of the restroom so they can go exactly where they want to without having to explore and accidentally touch more than necessary.

What is the tactile restroom map like?

The map is a mini replica of a restroom. You can feel miniature versions of all the objects, like a sink, a toilet, the paper holder, the hand drier, etc. Just by touch, for most people it will be obvious what’s what, though a map key is also available just in case. When you have to run, the last thing you want to do is to learn how to use a map. The 3D model makes it much more obvious.

Of course a 2D tactile map could do the exact same thing, but with a much longer learning curve, as currently there are no standards to mark up restrooms. Thus, in most cases one would have to use different tactile features to assign to objects and explain to the user exactly what it is.

This is what the 3D printed map avoids, as we try to make the objects as realistic as possible. Certain things may not make sense out of context, for example the line for the door, but once you know it is a restroom map and you already identified a few objects, it will be mostly obvious that that line shows where the individual doors are and on what side they open. So when you have to fall back to the map key, you don’t need to study the entire thing, only those marks which are not familiar to you.

What is on the tactile restroom map?

We can put anything on the map. The sample restroom shown in this post is a relatively simple one, it contains toilets, urinals, a sink paper holders and a hand drier. It also shows the walls and the doors.

One of the major sources of contamination is when people try to find where to flash or where to start the water in the sink. If you start exploring at the wrong place, you can easily wipe down an entire wall until you find it. Thus, we use small round knobs which indicate where to find it in relation to the object. Of course, we cannot eliminate all unnecessary touches, but at least we can indicate if it is going to be found on the lower right. Also, whenever these knobs do not exist, it means that it is automatic. Thus, there is no reason to even look for it, if it is the toilet just walk away and it will take care of itself, if it is the sink, just hold out your hand and the water will start automatically.

But a restroom can have so much more, wheel chair accessible toilet, changing tables for children or adults, dispensers, trash cans, though if they are not fixed those can be movable so it may not work well on a permanent map. But really, anything you can think of you can put inside a restroom. In the worst case, if it didn’t exist before, we will make a miniature for it and will add it to the map key.

Thus, each map will have its own key depending on what it contains. There will be quite a number of objects and it doesn’t make sense to explain those which are not present.

How is the map made?

We work with each organization to understand their environment and requirements first. Then we will ask them to send us photos or videos about the exact layout of the restroom, or if you have an actual floorplan that is useful. Once we have all the visual information, our designers build out the restroom and we mail it to you with everything you need to set it up.

How will blind people find the tactile restroom map?

This is the question we get most frequently. If you can’t see, you will never know that there is a map somewhere you can use. But this is only partially true. If we assume that most restrooms are already marked for people with visually impairment, for example with an ADA compliant sign in the United States, we can also agree that blind people will use these signs to find the restroom in general, or to find the one they would li ke to use. So all you have to do is to put the tactile restroom map right beside the ADA sign, or any other restroom sign so that the map will be hard to miss.

However, this is not a bulletproof solution, because most likely until this will be the norm, blind people won’t even think about searching for one. Thus, the marketing aspect of it is also important. For example once you have these maps, you can train your front desk staff to let people know about it when they enter your organization. Also, you can describe this feature on your web site, for example on the accessibility page.

Another option you have is to add it to your beacon based navigation system. If you are using a system like Right-Hear, you already let people know about it there is a chance that they downloaded the necessary app and they are using it to navigate a building. At this point you just need to make this information available when they navigate to the restroom that by the door a tactile map can be found. This does not replace beacon based or audio navigation, it is simply a complement to it, so people can have a picture of the restroom before they enter.

How do I get my own tactile restroom map?

Just contact us and we will help you with each step along the way. Once we get your photos or videos, it takes a few days to create the maps depending on our workload.

What do you think?

I’d be curious what do you think about this concept, especially if you used something like this before. While we are distributing the first few maps, it would be great to hear feedback and ideas to make it even more useful to y ou. Please leave a comment and let us know.