Applying Universal Design in GST to Improve Access for the Visually Impaired

Inclusive Mapping in a Visual World

Geospatial technology (GST) and universal design (UD) share a common purpose: enabling equal access and understanding for everyone. While previous discussions around GST often focus on mobility impairments, visual impairment presents a different—but equally important—set of challenges and opportunities.

Maps are now embedded into daily life. They guide how we travel, explore, and understand our surroundings. Yet this convenience assumes that users can see and interpret visual information. For millions of people with visual impairments, traditional maps can create barriers rather than remove them.

Are Maps Only for the Sighted?

Maps are commonly perceived as purely visual tools, but their function goes far beyond sight. A map translates a three-dimensional environment into a structured, understandable form. Cartographers already use abstraction—contours for elevation, symbols for infrastructure, and colors for classification—to communicate complex spatial information.

The challenge arises when these visual cues are inaccessible. Lines, colors, and symbols lose meaning without sight. To address this, designers and technologists have developed alternative methods that rely on other senses—primarily sound and touch.

Two major approaches dominate accessible mapping today:

• Auditory maps
• Tactile maps

Auditory Maps: Navigation Through Sound

Auditory maps transform spatial information into spoken guidance. This concept is familiar to many people through turn-by-turn navigation apps, which already demonstrate a core principle of universal design: features designed for accessibility often benefit everyone.

However, standard navigation apps have limitations for visually impaired users. They typically assume the ability to read street signs, offer minimal environmental context, and function poorly indoors.

To overcome these gaps, organizations such as American Printing House for the Blind have developed advanced solutions like Nearby Explorer. Available on both iOS and Android, the app provides navigation paired with contextual awareness.

Unlike basic GPS apps, Nearby Explorer announces nearby landmarks, transit points, businesses, and public facilities as users approach them. It draws from multiple spatial databases, helping users understand not just where to go, but what surrounds them.

Indoor Navigation with Context

Indoor environments present an even greater challenge. Nearby Explorer’s Indoor Explorer feature enables navigation inside buildings such as libraries, stores, and airports. Each facility is individually mapped and georeferenced, then enhanced with Bluetooth Low Energy beacons.

Once inside, users can switch between overview mode—providing environmental context—and precise navigation mode that guides them to specific destinations based on phone orientation.

Example of indoor navigation for visually impaired users using auditory cues

Tactile Maps: Understanding Geography Through Touch

Tactile maps represent space physically rather than visually. Long before digital mapping, tactile navigation existed in many cultures—from carved wooden coastal maps used by Inuit communities to traditional Pacific Island stick charts.

Today, tactile maps remain powerful tools. They invite exploration through touch and provide a spatial understanding that flat screens often cannot. Museums and public spaces frequently include raised-relief maps, recognizable by the worn surfaces where countless hands have traced their contours.

The challenge with tactile maps lies in portability and scalability. Modern solutions increasingly combine tactile elements with digital audio to create hybrid systems.

Accessible Transit Mapping: A Practical Example

Public transportation systems are notoriously complex. For visually impaired riders, they can be especially difficult to navigate.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area Rapid Transit partnered with Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and LightHouse to create accessible station maps.

Each station map combines:

• Embossed tactile layouts
• Audio descriptions activated by a smart pen

When a user taps a feature on the tactile map, detailed auditory information explains entrances, platforms, ticketing areas, and exits—transforming static infrastructure into navigable space.

Tactile and audio-enhanced transit maps for visually impaired users

Visual Impairment Exists on a Spectrum

Visual impairment is not a single condition. It ranges from temporary vision loss to progressive conditions, partial blindness, and complete blindness. Color blindness alone affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, with red-green color deficiency being the most common.

Despite its prevalence, color blindness is often overlooked in map design. Poor color contrast, reliance on hue alone, and cluttered symbology can make maps unusable.

In the United States, accessibility standards such as Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act provide guidance for inclusive digital design. These principles encourage cartographers to think beyond compliance and toward universal usability.

Education and the Future of Accessible Mapping

Digital navigation has reduced the need for traditional map literacy, but it has not eliminated the need for spatial understanding. For visually impaired users, learning to interpret auditory or tactile maps requires training and practice.

Encouragingly, many accessibility initiatives begin in early education. Institutions like Perkins School for the Blind play a critical role in teaching geographic concepts through accessible tools, ensuring that spatial literacy develops alongside other core skills.

Conclusion

Accessible mapping is not simply a technical challenge—it is a social responsibility. When people can navigate independently, they gain access to education, employment, healthcare, and community life.

From an economic perspective, inclusion strengthens society. From a moral perspective, it is essential. Universal design in geospatial technology ensures that progress moves forward without leaving anyone behind.

Designing maps for all abilities does not diminish their value—it expands it.