Even Grounds

Exploring the World with Touch Mapper: 3D Printing Tactile Maps for the Visually Impaired

I am always searching for innovative solutions to enhance the independence of visually impaired individuals. One such solution that has captured my attention many years ago was Touch Mapper, a service that allows the printing of local maps based on addresses. These tactile maps, designed for blind and visually impaired people, show roads, buildings, and bodies of water, with data sourced from OpenStreetMap. With my new 3D printer, it was finally time to put it to a test.

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Getting started with 3D printing

Last weekend I got myself a 3D printer. How does this relate to accessible travel? Because if I would like to understand what something looks like and I don’t have the opportunity to touch it, I can hopefully print out a model. I wrote about the 3d printed building project before, but that’s a different concept, where we are creating almost replica quality buildings. But sometimes, a good enough model that I can download from the net can give more information than nothing at all. My other motive was to work on more ideas and concepts for other blind people. I have many in mind, stay tuned.

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Videos for the blind

Recently I came across a creative video description service for blind and visually impaired people. The description is text based, and meant to be used by listening to short segments of the video and reading the descriptions. This way it can have more context than an audio described video, while it is fully accessible for deaf blind users. One can request any YouTube videos to be described up to 15 minutes. This service is free of charge.

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WayAround, a practical tagging system

Recently I have come across a simple and practical system to tag objects for blind people, called WayAround. It has practically unlimited uses, and people are coming up with all kinds of innovative ways of making their lives easier. I was wondering if I could use it during my trips to simplify a few things.

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Running with a guide dog

I will never forget how much more freedom I experienced all of a sudden when I got my guide dog, Baldwin from guiding eyes for the Blind. That was approximately the time when Guiding Eyes started to train running guides. This means that a blind or visually impaired person can take up running as a sport and do it independently with a guide dog. The white cane is not for running, it is simply dangerous.

One could ask, why not just run with a regular guide dog? After all dogs enjoy running. This is why it is not possible: a guide dog by default is trained to recognize and avoid obstacles at a walking speed. When one would run with a guide dog, practically it would ask the dog to do something she has never been trained to do. It would be confusing for the dog and dangerous for the blind person. During the training program, Guiding Eyes does ask dog handlers not to run with their dogs while guiding, unless the dog has been specifically trained for that. By default, Guiding Eyes does not train running guides, but anybody can request one.

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How my 3d buildings have changed my perception

Recently I wrote about my new 3d building project. Today I would like to talk about how it has changed my entire perception of what buildings are.

Unlike in most of my posts, I cannot talk about blind people in general, because each person is their own story and background and education. I can only talk about how it made a difference in my own personal life, but hopefully even through my own story some concepts will be useful for others when creating an experience for blind people, for example a tactile museum exhibit.

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Is your audio guide part of the problem or the solution?

Audio guides can be used in several environments, and if they are structured well, they can provide immense help for visitors. A few ideas where audio guides can be used are:

Museums and galleries
City tours
Parks
Zoos and aquariums
Botanical gardens

However, I have experienced many instances when otherwise good audio guides did not fulfill their promise and created a less than desirable experience, either because they had a conflicting message on the target audience, or they did not properly serve the people they meant to help.

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Travel Visions Aloha, adventures for the blind

The other day I came across a new article about Travel Visions Aloha for the Blind, which is an organization providing adventures and experiences for blind people, at the moment primarily in Hawaii. Though there are some similar organizations around the world, definitely not too many, so I contacted the owner, Marri Murdoch to learn more about her organization.

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