3D PRINTING OF TACTILE MAPS
linkable with mobile devices

Author: Bc. Radek Barvíř
Supervisor: RNDr. Jan Brus, Ph.D.
Field of study: Geoinformatics
Place and year of publication of the thesis: Olomouc, 2017
Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc
Czech Republic, EU

Aim of the thesis is to find, implement and automate a workflow of interactive tactile maps manufacturing using the method of 3D printing. The workflow is based mainly on opensource and freeware tools and sources, e.g. OpenStreetMap data, QGIS and Blender 3D modelling software. For data download and processing commercial software ArcGIS for Desktop was chosen. These sources are used together with own-design script and geoprocessing models to make the production of the tactile maps more effective, less time-consuming and uniform.

The thesis also deals with choosing user-appropriate parameters of the map e. g. the map scale, map symbol size, content etc. This is done in order to fit the needs of blind people as much as possible on the one hand and taking into account the limitations of the tools available and incompleteness of the input opensource geodata on the other hand. To achieve this, the interim results were consulted with tactile map cartographers and tested with visually impaired in TyfloCentrum Olomouc, o. p. s. (institution helping visually impaired people in the city of Olomouc). For testing, tactile maps of different case-study areas were produced, e.g. the maps focused on some parts of the city centre of Olomouc, the capital of Praha and Ostrava. The maps were produced using two kinds of 3D printers both closed-design MakerBot Replicator 2X and home 3D printer Poseidon Duo.