Draft talk Maps for the Web Workshop

Hi everybody,

I attach a first draft of my proposal for a talk for the Maps for the Web Workshop (https://www.w3.org/2020/maps/ <https://www.w3.org/2020/maps/>).
Following what we discuss on last RQTF meeting (https://www.w3.org/2020/07/22-rqtf-minutes.html <https://www.w3.org/2020/07/22-rqtf-minutes.html>), I have written two paragraphs highlighting some user-cases/requirements
about the need for annotations on 2D map on the Web for a11y purposes.

Please feel free to review and eventually fix/add mistakes or comment about what’s missing:

From an accessibility perspective, to create accessible Web map experiences that adapt to the different ways people interact with the Web means to take in account several aspects.
One of them is about the need for annotations of geolocated data and maps metadata. Once those annotations are specified and then delivered by the technologies, they become available to be used from non-visual outputs such as Speech Synthesis. Maps are used everyday by users to know information about places, routes and to navigate towards locations.
Maps can be either complex or simple, can show a lot of information or few. According to the user needs, maps are often configurable and users switch to different views for the same data.

Several accessibility related use-cases will be showed with requirements to solve them. Some examples: 
- a wheelchair user wants to know about wheelchair paths on the current map
- a pedestrian needs to know a path available to reach a specific place safely by feet
 A possible solution to the needs above can be to provide a contextual menu to switch between different views of the same map/area.
- a blind user needs to hear about the current map size, the boundaries and possibly move the map to highlight a different area
 The boundaries of the map can be read aloud by the Speech Synthesis tool as those information are provided on the screen as text, as well as the extension of the map currently showed
 on the screen. Four HTML buttons can be provided to move the map and change the zoom level to navigate the area, and look for new data.
- users should be able to change the map unit according to their needs (meters, kilometres, foots, miles, etc.)
 People from different countries are comfortable with specific units and can found problems in reading the map with different units.
- A blind user wants to navigate the map without feeling frustrated and loose too much time in moving the selected area.
 Map scale is fundamental to have an idea about the extension of the area currently shown on the map. Scale (that can be unified with the idea of ‘zoom’ level) should be available as a text annotation.
More example will be highlighted during the talk.


Please let me know about:
- content
- the detail level (too much detail? or too general?)
- text form

I will be available for modifies until Monday 27 then I will be away two weeks.



Nicolò Carpignoli

Chialab Design Company
via Arrigo Lucchini 9
40134 Bologna, Italy
+39 0516154398 int. 507
www.chialab.it <https://www.chialab.it/>