HaptiMap · Haptic, Audio and Visual Interfaces for Maps and Location-Based Services

The HAPTIMAP project will deeply embed accessibility into digital mainstream maps and mobile location-based services. Our strategy is twofold: firstly to develop tools that make it easier for developers to add adaptable multimodal components (designed to improve accessibility) to their applications; and secondly, to raise the awareness of these issues via new guidelines and to suggest extensions to existing design practices so that accessibility issues are considered throughout the design process.<br/>The concrete outcomes of the project will be an open, interoperable and standardized adaptable toolkit together with a set of design guidelines that help developers of mainstream applications make maps in general more accessible and easier to use (not only for disabled users but for everyone). We will raise the industrial awareness of accessibility issues by arranging workshops and also by providing an educational module targeted at engineering and design students. Furthermore we will develop design methods and tools that support existing development practices so that it becomes easier to embed 'accessibility' into the design process, making it an integral part of the work instead of being added afterwards as is currently often the case (if the issue is addressed at all). Finally, example applications that illustrate the use of the toolkit and guidelines will be developed and will be evaluated and demonstrated in multiple real life scenarios<br/>In this project we have chosen to focus on digital maps and location based services, since these are strongly emerging information services used for a wide range of PC and mobile applications. Our results will be generally applicable, but we have selected this application area as a way of providing our project with a concrete core which ties the different parts of the project together.