RE: server side images for geographic mapping data

At 11:38 AM 2001-01-18 -0600, Schuur, Shawn M wrote:
>We have a customer services center that can be used to order any products
>over the phoneline, email or fax or through the website.
>

Are maps in tactile media (of quality equal to what you can get with a Tiger
device) offered as part of this product offering?  If not, you should review
why not.  Someone should be able to go through a Web, IVR, or
voice-to-call-center dialog and home in on the geographical region where the
answer lies, and then request a map in hardcopy, with tactile format as an
available option.  If that is not what you offer, there should be a good story
as to why this constitutes undue burden.  USGS can clearly afford a few Tigers
at service centers or Kinkos around the country, and the software to do the
formatting of the map output only needs to be done once.  If the customer is
willing to pay and wait for the shipping of the end product, it is hard to
imagine why the service is not offered.

For a device (e.g. Tiger) in this price class it makes much more sense that
the
device is maitained by an ASV and not the consumer.  So the Government Service
should do the printing in this case and not the consumer.  User fees may
apply,
but with this business model they can be reasonable.

Al

>-Shawn Schuur
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Robert Neff
>To: Schuur, Shawn M; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
>Sent: 1/18/01 11:09 AM
>Subject: RE: server side images for geographic mapping data
>
>Is there a call center or help line (phone or email) where people could
>call
>in for information?
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org
[<mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org%5D>mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]  On
>Behalf Of Schuur, Shawn M
>Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 10:16 AM
>To: 'w3c-wai-ig@w3.org'
>Subject: server side images for geographic mapping data
>
>Hi, I work for the USGS at EROS Data Center.
>
>We have a huge problem and I was looking for some feedback on what to do
>for
>accessibility and Section 508.
>
>We are a satellite and aerial photography organization that generates
>our
>online maps through server-side maps that are dynamically created via a
>map
>server based on latitude and longitude.
>
>Obviously a blind user would not be able to see the map or know what
>they
>were clicking on and keyboard strokes are limited for navigation.  We do
>have alternative searching mechanisms such as searching by a place name
>or
>by typing in the coordinates but is necessary for the map server to
>dynamically map out the chosen coordinates.
>
>What do we need to do to make it accessible?
>
><http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/EarthExplorer/>http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/Ea
rthExplorer/
>
><http://edc.usgs.gov/Webglis/glisbin/finder_main.pl?dataset_name=MAPS_LAR>
http://edc.usgs.gov/Webglis/glisbin/finder_main.pl?dataset_name=MAPS_LAR
>GE
>
><http://edc.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html>http://edc.usgs.gov/doc/
edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html
>
>Thank you,
>Shawn Schuur
>EROS Data Center
>(605)594-2776
>

Received on Thursday, 18 January 2001 14:11:32 UTC