Map Use by Adults with Visual Impairments
Abstract
In this paper we summarize five experiments that were designed to investigate how tactile maps contribute to the cognitive maps of people with visual impairments. In two experiments we demonstrated that tactile maps can contribute to peoples' ability to learn a route through an unfamiliar area. From the results of two further studies, we argue that compared to people with sight, people with visual impairments have greater difficulty encoding information from a map. We considered this directly in a fifth experiment by investigating how people with visual impairments search and learn a map. We found that they used less efficient strategies than people with sight. We conclude that tactile maps are an important source of geographical information when people need to learn about new environments, but we also point out that to benefit most from tactile maps people need to encode the map information as effectively as possible. As people with visual impairments do not always use the most appropriate encoding strategies we suggest that tactile map users might benefit from greater experience and training in map encoding strategies.
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Similar benefits on cognitive map development have been shown with BVI people using tactile maps to learn novel spaces and for BVI travelers using tactile maps while actively navigating the environment.
“Similar benefits on cognitive map development have been shown with BVI people using tactile maps to learn novel spaces (Golledge, 1991; Ungar et al., 1997a) and for BVI travelers using tactile maps while actively navigating the environment (Blades et al., 1999).”
From Cognitive Mapping Without Vision: Comparing Wayfinding Performance After Learning From Digital Touchscreen-Based Multimodal Maps vs. Embossed Tactile Overlays (2020) · cites this paper as Blades et al., 1999
The literature has shown that access to tactile maps greatly benefits accuracy of environmental learning, cognitive map development, and wayfinding performance by both children and adult BVI users.
“The literature has unequivocally shown that access to tactile maps greatly benefits the accuracy of environmental learning, cognitive map development, and wayfinding performance by both children and adult BVI users (Golledge, 1991; Espinosa et al., 1998; Blades et al., 1999).”
From Cognitive Mapping Without Vision: Comparing Wayfinding Performance After Learning From Digital Touchscreen-Based Multimodal Maps vs. Embossed Tactile Overlays (2020) · cites this paper as Blades et al., 1999
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“Similar benefits on cognitive map development have been shown with BVI people using tactile maps to learn novel spaces (Golledge, 1991; Ungar et al., 1997a) and for BVI travelers using tactile maps while actively navigating the environment (Blades et al., 1999).”
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- Authors
- Blades, M., Ungar, S., & Spencer, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- London Metropolitan University (GB)
- Venue
- The Professional Geographer
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1999-11-01
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 539-553
- ISSN
- 0033-0124 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9272
- OpenAlex
- W2026214439
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 0.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Professional Geographer (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Geography Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- tactile maps, visual impairment, cognitive maps, route learning, spatial learning, map use, geographical information
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