Erin Secosky


Branch Museum of Design
Varzenal
Sun.Rm
P.F Flyers
Qi Baishi
Artificial Apotheosis
Sunboxes
Estuary
Food & Alienation

Tactile Toolbox Mapping
  • GIS Mapping, data collection, 3D modeling and printing
  • Project Timeline: January-March 2024
  •      Tactile Toolbox is a system prototype of a new process of making tactile maps for the visually impaired. Using a customized ArcGIS online tool, making personalized maps can be done in less than 30 minutes, ensuring that everyone has the ability to create their own sense of place.


Concept: Personalized

“Navigation apps tell you that you have to go straight, or right, or left at the next corner. But is it a 60-, 90-, or 120-degree corner? What kind of street will it be—a narrow one for pedestrians or a wide one with a lot of cars?”
- Arend Jan van Dongen




How might we design a system to create fast, personalized tactile maps?
  • Originally, I began researching map customization to create fun, personalized maps, but quickly realized a gap existing within the map market. Tactile maps. While there are several companies that produce these maps, they are often costly, timeconsuming, and pre-determined. 

  • I gathered research on symbology best practices and main goals of map use from secondary sources like Open Source Maps, Esri, The Royal National Institute of Blind People, and Dedicon Foundation. GIS Data was located from CUzk Dataportal.

Early map tests; exporting the map, printing different symbology, experimenting with displacement mapping for topology

The Interface

GIS data on Prague was collected from the CZ Geoportal, then filtered to appear based on the scope of the map. The appearance of the features was simplified to be able to be exported as tactile symbology.

The ESRI Online interface allows the “cartographer” to choose what layers they would like to select, then export each layer as SVG files for 3D extrusion.




3D Printed Prototype

Major roads, tram lines, tram stops, and a “you are here” star within Zizkov, Prague 3

Other Layers/Scales

Dots representing greenspaces, stars representing schools in Zizkov, Prague 3


Administrative districts and population density within the Czech Republic


Promotional Material



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