Investigating blind people's preferences when exploring maps using static and rotatable audio-tactile maps at different orientations

Abstract

Maps have been used in different ways to facilitate travellers in wayfinding. Depending on the traveller's ability to translate the direction on the map to the real world, maps are normally read at different orientations. Some have the ability to rotate the map mentally without having to change its original orientation and some require the map to be aligned with the direction of the intended path. Blind people are not excluded from using maps. A multimodal map that combines touch and hearing has been introduced to enable blind people to learn maps. However, such maps usually enable blind people to explore maps only in a fixed orientation. This raises a question of whether they might also benefit from the ability to change the orientation. Therefore, this paper investigates 12 blind people's preferences from a study conducted in Malaysia. The participants were required to explore five maps at different orientations in static and rotatable conditions based on the directional task given before performing a pointing task. Their preferences for the conditions were acquired through a series of interviews. Results showed that the blind participants did have their own preference when exploring the maps based on various reasons.