- From: Harvey Bingham <hbingham@acm.org>
- Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 18:21:30 -0400
- To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Abstract from ACM TechNews Vol 4, Number 404, September 27, 2002 Wired News (09/25/02); Tosczak, Mark Software developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers visually impaired users a way to navigate maps, thus opening up their participation in geographic research. The Blind Audio Tactile Mapping System (BATS) is set up so that a sightless user can move a cursor over a map and determine location and the position of prominent features by hearing audio cues. For instance, moving the cursor over land produces the sound of horses galloping, while moving it over water produces the sound of waves hitting shore. Meanwhile, a speech synthesizer reads out the name of locations the cursor passes over, and sometimes spells it out if pronunciation is difficult. Users navigate with a trackball interface, which proved to be a cheaper and easier alternative to an early prototype's stylus and touch screen. BATS grew out of a undergraduate computer science class project organized by professor Gary Bishop, and Python was selected as the software's programming language. The students responded so positively to the challenge that they asked Bishop permission to refine the system over the summer, and Bishop secured funding from Microsoft to support their efforts. A new team is incorporating tactile feedback into BATS via trackballs and mice with force-feedback. See: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,54916,00.html Regards/Harvey Bingham
Received on Friday, 27 September 2002 20:21:55 UTC