Maps as a service: A systematic approach to the production of tactile and audio/vibrational maps for visually impaired users

地图即服务：为视障用户制作触觉和音频/振动地图的系统方法

• 批准号: 10720207
• 负责人: NICHOLAS A GIUDICE
• 金额: $ 36.78万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10720207
• 关键词: 3-Dimensional; Acoustics; Address; Area; Awareness; Cellular Phone; Cognition; Cognitive; Collaborations; Communities; Computer software; Confusion; Dangerousness; Data; Data Set; Destinations; Diffusion; Educational process of instructing; Engineering; Environment; Evaluation; Floor; Generations; Geographic Information Systems; Home; Image; Indoor environment; Information Sciences; Institution; Knowledge; Learning; Location; Maine; Maps; Modernization; Navigation System; Persons; Production; Published Comment; Reporting; Research; Research Activity; Route; San Francisco; Schools; Semantics; Series; Services; Specific qualifier value; Structure; Study Subject; System; Tactile; Techniques; Technology; Training; Twin Studies; Vision; Visual impairment; Visually Impaired Persons; Work; blind; computer science; design; effectiveness evaluation; experimental study; human subject; interest; multimodality; new technology; open source; research and development; skills; smartphone application; stem; technological innovation; tool; usability; vector; visual map; web app

Project Summary Mobility, orientation, and spatial awareness can be challenging for people who are blind. Navigating new or unfamiliar environments without sight can be confusing and stressful, and potentially dangerous. As a consequence, it has been reported that at least 30% of blind individuals do not make independent trips outside of their home. For sighted and blind travelers alike, maps represent a valuable tool for spatial cognition. Maps can be made accessible to blind users using tactile format, or as multimodal vibrational/audio maps (a format pioneered by co-I Giudice, himself a blind individual). Research has shown that, when given the opportunity to explore an accessible map beforehand (pre-journey learning), blind travelers may achieve better spatial awareness of locations, which may help with maintaining orientation and determining new routes. Tactile maps are traditionally created by professionals, often following “tricks of the trade” and using non-standardized symbols. Recently, there has been a push towards systematic approaches to tactile map creation that would enable wider diffusion and consistent spatial symbols rendering. Online services (e.g., TMAPS) have been created, that allow anyone to specify a certain region to be mapped, and have a tactile map automatically generated for that region, sourcing from an open access geographical information system. Existing systems for on-demand map creation, however, can only map outdoor areas. There is no such service for building indoors, and in fact, very little research work has addressed the systematic production of tactile indoor maps. Indoor environments are generally less structured than typical urban layouts. Moving about in a building may require spatial knowledge at multiple scales (from the general building structure to the internal layout of a room). And, unlike widely available GIS data sets, obtaining detailed floor plans in a format amenable for tactile map creation can be challenging. In this application, we propose research and development focusing on a system for the semi-automatic creation of accessible maps (in tactile and vibrational/audio format) of indoor environments. This work will stem from a prior web application (SIM, developed by PI Manduchi’s team) that allows anyone to trace an existing floor plan to generate an embossable map. Our research activities will be organized around the following Specific Aims: Facilitating acquisition and “vectorization” of floor plans (Aim 1); Automatic conversion of a vectorized map (expressed in terms of spatial primitives) to an accessible map at any desired scale, by means of cartographic generalization operators and carefully designed symbol sets (Aim 2); User studies with blind subjects, designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the maps produced by our new SIM system (Aim 3); Transferring the new SIM web app technology to our partner institution, the Vista Center for the Blind of Palo Alto, which will make it available as a service to interested stakeholders.

项目概要 对于盲人来说，移动性、方向性和空间意识可能具有挑战性。 没有视力的环境可能会令人困惑、充满压力，因此也存在潜在的危险。 据报道，至少 30% 的盲人不会独立外出旅行。 对于视力正常和失明的旅行者来说，地图是一种宝贵的空间认知工具。 盲人用户可以使用触觉格式或多模式振动/音频图（由 co-I 首创的格式） 朱迪斯（Giudice）本人是一名盲人）研究表明，当有机会探索无障碍环境时。 提前绘制地图（行前学习），盲人旅行者可能会获得更好的位置空间意识，这可能 帮助保持方向和确定新路线。 触觉地图传统上是由专业人士创建的，通常遵循“行业技巧”并使用非标准化 最近，人们正在推动触觉地图创建的系统方法，这使得触觉地图创建成为可能。 更广泛的传播和一致的空间符号渲染已经创建，允许 任何人都可以指定要绘制地图的特定区域，并为该区域自动生成触觉地图， 从开放获取的地理信息系统采购。 然而，现有的按需地图创建系统只能绘制室外区域的地图，没有此类服务。 事实上，很少有研究工作涉及触觉室内地图的系统制作。 室内环境通常不像典型的城市布局那样结构化。 多尺度的空间知识（从一般建筑结构到房间的内部布局）。 广泛可用的 GIS 数据集，以适合触觉地图创建的格式获取详细的平面图 具有挑战性的。 在此应用中，我们建议重点研究和开发半自动创建的系统 室内环境的可访问地图（触觉和振动/音频格式）这项工作将源于之前的网络。 应用程序（SIM，由 PI Manduchi 团队开发）允许任何人追踪现有的平面图以生成 我们的研究活动将围绕以下具体目标进行： 促进获取。 平面图的“矢量化”（目标 1）；矢量化地图的自动转换（以空间形式表示）； 基元）通过制图概括算子并仔细地以任何所需比例转换为可访问的地图 设计符号集（目标 2）；针对盲人受试者的用户研究，旨在评估地图的有效性 由我们的新 SIM 系统生成（目标 3）；将新的 SIM Web 应用程序技术转让给我们的合作伙伴机构， 帕洛阿尔托盲人维斯塔中心 (Vista Center for the Blind of Palo Alto)，该中心将向感兴趣的利益相关者提供服务。