Re: Accessible embedded maps

Eric,
I have just noticed that your query has not been answered by anyone. Since
you say you are new to to this forum, I would like to reassure you that
this was not by design; many of us here are also active in other forums as
well, so this query just got overlooked.

To answer your question about maps, for any question about non-text content
I always point people to the actual wording of the WCAG's SC1.1.1:
".....has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose". So for
any non-text content we have to ask ourselves what that content does for
sighted people. That, then, is what we have to provide, in text form, for
blind people. Having said that it is especially difficult with interactive
maps as they can do so many things.

You say you have provided the address of your office on the web page. But
the first thing the map does, for sighted people, is to place a big red
flag on the area or part of town your address is in. That also shows which
side of the town it is in, which is often useful to know. Blind people
might use a taxi or a friend to drive them, but for that they would have to
say where the address is (e.g. "beside Hyde Park", or "off such and such
main road") in case the driver doesn't know. Not all taxi drivers know all
the smaller roads. So which side of town, and the local area or nearest
major landmark are the first items of information to include as text,
beside the address.

What the Google map also does, of course, is to allow people to enter the
start and end points to get a list of instructions for the route to that
address from other parts of the town or city. If they start at that station
you mentioned, they need directions how to walk from there. But it can
still be tricky for a blind person to navigate the map and the input fields
and popups to get the instructions. They will find it much easier if you
have done the job for them and placed the instructions on the page below
the map.

So I would also say, if you provide a list of detailed directions from the
station, that then provides the same functionality as the map itself. Many
non-disabled users will find those directions useful as well, and easy to
print off to take with them.

Likewise for the route from the town centre (if the station is not in the
town centre). Is there a bus station? Do the same for that, even if it is
just "Turn right out of the south end of the bus station to join the above
route from the town centre". Obviously you cannot cover every possibility,
but just doing the most likely cases would help most users. So that's what
I would advise, though others may have a different take on it. It is one of
those subjective things in the WCAG.

And apologies on behalf of us all for not replying to you originally!

Regards,
Guy Hickling
Accessibility Consultant