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Customizable 3D Printed Tactile Maps as Interactive Overlays

Authors:

Brandon Taylor,

Dan Siewiorek, and

Asim SmailagicAuthors Info & Claims

ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 2016

Pages 71 - 79

https://doi.org/10.1145/2982142.2982167

Published: 23 October 2016 Publication History

Abstract

Though tactile maps have been shown to be useful tools for visually impaired individuals, their availability has been limited by manufacturing and design costs. In this paper, we present a system that uses 3D printing to (1) make tactile maps more affordable to produce, (2) allow visually impaired individuals to independently design and customize maps, and (3) provide interactivity using widely available mobile devices. Our system consists of three parts: a web interface, a modeling algorithm, and an interactive touchscreen application. Our web interface, hosted at www.tactilemaps.net, allows visually impaired individuals to create maps of any location on the globe while specifying (1) what features to map, (2) how the features should be represented by textures, and (3) where to place markers and labels. Our modeling algorithm accommodates user specifications to create map models with (1) multiple layers of continuously varying textures and (2) markers of various geometric shapes or braille characters. Our interactive application uses a novel approach to 3D printing tactile maps using conductive filament to provide touchscreen overlays that allow users to dynamically interact with the maps on a wide range of mobile devices. This paper details the implementation of our system. We also present findings from a user study validating the usability of our mapping interface and the utility of the maps produced. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our current implementation and the plans we have to improve our system based on feedback from our user study and additional interviews.

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Cited By

Lee MKim SIn H(2024)Archi-TangiBlock: A Modular Block Based Tangible Media as a CAD Tool for Visually Impaired PeopleIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2024.338231112(46582-46595)Online publication date: 2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3382311
Milallos ROh TPeiris R(2024)Exploring the Effectiveness of Electrotactile Feedback for Data Visualization for Blind and Visually Impaired UsersUniversal Access in Human-Computer Interaction10.1007/978-3-031-60884-1_28(413-428)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60884-1_28
Hutson JHutson PHutson JHutson P(2024)Immersive TechnologiesInclusive Smart Museums10.1007/978-3-031-43615-4_5(153-228)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43615-4_5
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Customizable 3D Printed Tactile Maps as Interactive Overlays
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods
      1. User studies

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 2016

362 pages

ISBN:9781450341240

DOI:10.1145/2982142

General Chair:
Jinjuan Heidi Feng
Towson University, USA
,
Program Chair:
Matt Huenerfauth
Rochester Institute of Technology, USA

Copyright © 2016 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGACCESS: ACM Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 23 October 2016

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National Science Foundation

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ASSETS '16

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SIGACCESS

ASSETS '16: The 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 23 - 26, 2016

Nevada, Reno, USA

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ASSETS '16 Paper Acceptance Rate 24 of 95 submissions, 25%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 436 of 1,556 submissions, 28%

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Citations

Cited By

Lee MKim SIn H(2024)Archi-TangiBlock: A Modular Block Based Tangible Media as a CAD Tool for Visually Impaired PeopleIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2024.338231112(46582-46595)Online publication date: 2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3382311
Milallos ROh TPeiris R(2024)Exploring the Effectiveness of Electrotactile Feedback for Data Visualization for Blind and Visually Impaired UsersUniversal Access in Human-Computer Interaction10.1007/978-3-031-60884-1_28(413-428)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60884-1_28
Hutson JHutson PHutson JHutson P(2024)Immersive TechnologiesInclusive Smart Museums10.1007/978-3-031-43615-4_5(153-228)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43615-4_5
Almurayziq TAlotibi NAlshammari GAlshammari AAlsaffar M(2023)Smart and Guide Hat for Blind Persons in Smart Cities Using Deep LearningJournal of Advances in Information Technology10.12720/jait.14.6.1214-122014:6(1214-1220)Online publication date: 2023
https://doi.org/10.12720/jait.14.6.1214-1220
Regal GMaidhof CPuthenkalam JKhermayer ŽPavšek KSackl A(2023)Feel the Art: Digital, Tangible Postcards for Accessible Cultural ExperiencesProceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia10.1145/3626705.3631877(559-561)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626705.3631877
Telesinska M(2023)Multimodal 3D printed urban maps for blind people. Evaluations and scientific investigationsProceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3597638.3614503(1-7)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3597638.3614503
Liang CIravantchi YKrolikowski TGeng RSample AGuo A(2023)BrushLens: Hardware Interaction Proxies for Accessible Touchscreen Interface ActuationProceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3586183.3606730(1-17)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3586183.3606730
Jain GTeng YCho DXing YAziz MSmith B(2023)"I Want to Figure Things Out": Supporting Exploration in Navigation for People with Visual ImpairmentsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35794967:CSCW1(1-28)Online publication date: 16-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3579496
Nagassa RButler MHolloway LGoncu CMarriott K(2023)3D Building Plans: Supporting Navigation by People who are Blind or have Low Vision in Multi-Storey BuildingsProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581389(1-19)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581389
Holloway LButler MMarriott K(2023)TactIcons: Designing 3D Printed Map Icons for People who are Blind or have Low VisionProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581359(1-18)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581359
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