PRODUCTION AND AVAILABILITY OF TACTILE ATLASES IN THE WEB OF COUNTRIES OF THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Nogueira, R.E.; 2Regis, T.C.; 3Silva, A.
1UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA Email: ruthenogueira@gmail.com
2UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA Email: tahregis@gmail.com
3UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA Email: amanda.fsilva95@gmail.com
Abstract
The scope of this article is to demonstrate how geographic atlases for blind people or people with very short sight are being produced within a project initiated three years ago – that has the objective to make available this kind of spatial information in the WEB. Because of the lack of tactile maps or atlases in the Portuguese language speaking countries – we decided to produce in the Laboratory of School and Tactile Cartography (LabTATE) the atlas of these countries and make the models available in website of this laboratory. Currently there is the Atlas of Mozambique – which can be accessed through the www.labtate.ufsc.br and during this year of 2014 the Atlas of Angola is being elaborated. During the following years – one per year - the atlases of all of the other Portuguese speaking countries will be organized. By analyzing several geographic atlases for people who see it was verified that the minimum of information that an atlas needs to have cover 12 themes that encompass the location in the world, the administrative-political aspects, the history and culture, the natural aspects, the population and the economy. This way, it was decided that all of the atlases would have the following themes in the form of tactile maps or maps for people for very short sight: Map of location of the Portuguese speaking countries in the world, Map of location of the country in Africa, Administrative-political division (provinces), Hypsometry, Climatic types; Vegetation; Main watersheds; Main cities and highways; Population (which may present up to two maps); Mineral Resources and Main Economy. The methodology used to make the atlas starts with the search of already existing maps or of atlases of these maps to make the adaptation for tactile and short vision version. In case a theme of interest is not found, the data is searched for in the official autarchies of the country to afterwards build the desired thematic map. The making/adaptation of each map is conducted through a software of graphic design such as InksCape, or Corel Draw, using graphic and conceptual generalization, because tactile reading is much coarser than eyesight reading. Afterwards the map is printed on thick paper for the making of the mold of the map, in order to make offer relief to the lines, points and areas. For this, low cost and easy access materials are used such as cords, fabric and jewelry (which may be substituted in each country for something similar) and is glue on texts written in Braille. The mold then goes to the Termocop machine of reproduction through vacuum and heating of a plastic, and with this is produced the final map with relief that allows tactile reading. This map is submitted to cognition tests with people with visual impairment. If necessary, correction of places where there is confusion in the tactile reading. Every atlas produced is donated to the Sector of Accessibility of the Central Library of the Federal University of Santa Catarina/Brazil. The image of each map of the atlas is made available on the LabTATE website and maybe accessed and downloaded to be reproduced according to instructions that are also there. Because it is the only electronic address of this gender in the world, focused on the Portuguese speaking school public, we believe that the atlases of the Portuguese speaking country may collaborate in order to diminish the lack of geographic information not only for people with visual impairment but also for those who see. For Brazil, the biggest Portuguese speaking country, we are making mini atlases of each state, once there are already more than 40 thematic maps of the country available on this website.
Keywords
Tactile atlas; Visually Impaired; Tactile Cartography