New Tool Allows People Who Are Blind To Read Maps
Students in a software engineering class at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--with help from the professor--have developed a tool that blind and visually impaired people can use to read maps. The Blind Audio Tactile Mapping System (BATS) uses a trackball to move a cursor around on a map. As the cursor passes over different parts of
the map, the system plays audio information so the user can "read" the map. For example, names of places on the map are pronounced by a voice synthesizer. When the cursor goes over water, the user hears the sound of crashing waves; over land, the user hears horses galloping. The professor teaching the class in which the tool was developed said it
could become an open-source application, and it can be downloaded now
from the project's site (http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/bats/).
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