Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Dr. Alena Vondráková
Co-supervisor: Dr. Josef Strobl

Introduction

Providing blind and visually impaired students with cartographic teaching aids not only promotes their educational autonomy but also ensures equitable access to geographic and environmental education (Przyszewska & Szyszkowska, 2011). Tactile maps enable students who are visually impaired to develop spatial awareness and orientation skills crucial for independent navigation. Additionally, accessible cartographic information facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of societal, cultural, and global issues, enhancing rehabilitation and the ability to adapt to living without sight (Olczyk, 2014). Therefore, integrating tactile maps into educational curricula is imperative for promoting inclusivity, enhancing learning outcomes, and empowering individuals with visual impairments to actively participate in global initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The need for tactile maps, particularly concerning the sixth SDG, becomes evident when considering the inclusive dissemination of crucial information to people who are blind or visually impaired. Educational materials and information in various formats tailored to their specific needs are essential for fostering autonomy among individuals with visual impairments (Escanilla et al., 2009.). This inclusion extends to understanding global challenges such as those outlined in the SDGs, which impact everyone regardless of visual ability. Unfortunately, there's a notable scarcity of educational programs and materials addressing SDGs, particularly those accessible to individuals with visual impairments. This imbalance in educational coverage disproportionately affects goals like SDG 6, despite its paramount importance as water is fundamental for human survival and achieving other SDGs (Ferrer- Estévez & Chalmeta, 2021). The fulfilment of SDG 6 supports all other SDGs, particularly those related to health, education, food, gender equality, energy and climate change.

Tactile thematic maps, such as those related to the SGDs, are crucial for understanding spatial and geographic concepts, but they remain largely underexplored in research and educational settings (Lobben, 2015; Wabiński and Mościcka, 2019). This gap leads to a deficiency in educational resources, barring students who are visually impaired from fully engaging with subjects like geography or history. Students who are blind or visually impaired have to follow the same curricula and children with normal vision (Przyszewska & Szyszkowska, 2011). The lack of accessible tactile maps limits their ability to fulfil curriculum requirements and gain essential knowledge about the world around them. Furthermore, thematic maps, especially those showing the geographic dimensions of the SDGs, serve as invaluable tools for challenging biases, promoting critical thinking, and fostering inclusivity among students of diverse backgrounds and abilities (Kraak et al., 2018). There is a clear need for tactile maps on the Sustainable Development Goals, a gap that this thesis aims to narrow with a focus on developing a series of maps on just one SGD, SGD 6, “Clean Water and Sanitation, in order to provide a template and methodology for creating tactile maps for the environmental education of people with visual impairments.

Objectives

The aim of this diploma thesis is to create a series of tactile maps for people with severe visual impairment presenting Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation. Sub-goals of this thesis include conducting an analysis of available teaching materials and maps for people with severe visual impairment and to propose a simple methodology on how to implement the produced materials in practical classroom curricula. These goals can be divided into both a theoretical and a practical part.

The theoretical part relates mainly to the research conducted on available environmental educational material for students with visual impairments, existing methodologies for creating tactile maps, and the specifications of designing tactile graphics on microcapsule paper. The practical part focuses on the actual production and evaluation of the maps and additional complementary materials. The main objective for this part is to create a series of maps and complementary materials on environmental topics to be used in the education of students with severe visual impairment, making sure to use data from the European Union’s Copernicus program. After the creation of the maps, user testing will be conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Special Pedagogical Studies of the Palacký University Olomouc with a focus on the correct implementation of data presentation for the selected user group. The goals of this thesis can be summarized as follows:

Theoretical Goals:

• Conduct research on methodologies for creating tactile maps, focusing on their application for individuals with visual impairments and their integration into classroom curricula for environmental education.
• Determine the specific content focus for each tactile map.
• Identify potential sources of data to be utilized in map creation.

Practical Goals

• Collect and process relevant datasets.
• Simplify and generalize the data to meet user specifications.
• Compile map contents and layouts.
• Perform user testing to access usability and effectiveness.

As the final output of this thesis, the produced series of maps can serve as a useful source of information on environmental topics for students with severe visual impairment. The methodological aspect of this thesis can also be beneficial for cartographers and teachers who are concerned with the production of microcapsule thematic maps related to environmental topics for students with visual impairments. In addition to the maps, accompanying explanatory text will be generated for each map. This text will offer further context, explain the map's content, provide guidance on interpreting the map, and briefly outline the data processing methods utilized. All of the resulting materials will all be made available for a wide target audience through an openly accessible website.

Methodology

Data Sources

GIS data
International boundaries provided by the United Nations were used as base layers for the thematic content of the maps. These boundaries were provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN and accessed through a Web Map Service (WMS) which can be found here. Once accessed, the boundary layers were saved locally in shapefile (SHP) format. These boundaries were simplified and generalized to meet the needs of the target user group. Data on precipitation was accessed through the Copernicus Climate Change Service in Network Common Data Form (NetCDF), version 4 format. Precipitation values were based on estimates from various satellites, for more information see: GPCP. For this thesis, monthly precipitation data for the entire world for each month of 2020 was downloaded and mosaicked into one combined raster and then divided into the seven Sustainable Development regions.

Tabular Data
Most of the data that served as the thematic content for the map series was sourced from the UN-Water SDG 6 Data Portal which collects all of the UN’s water and sanitation data in one place. This site provides data on every SDG indicator that is related to water and sanitation. This means that data for each indicator covered under SDG 6 was available as well as additional data for indicators that fall under different SDGs. While data collection for all of the SGD 6 indicators is coordinated by UN-Water, there are a variety of different organizations responsible for collecting data for each specific indicator.

Data Processing

Tabular Data
The thematic content of this map series centered around the SDG 6 indicators. Data for each indicator was exported at the country level from the UN’s SDG 6 data portal in CSV format. The files were then processed in Microsoft Excel where non-essential data was deleted, country names were corrected, and data was organized. The raw values for each country were categorized into generalized groups of five or fewer. This threshold was decided as a result of the fact that much of the literature on microcapsule graphics suggests that this is the maximum number of textures that can be distinguished by touch. This conclusion was further reinforced during user testing.

Different indicators collected different types of data (i.e. percentages, raw dollar values, rankings). These values were divided into high, moderate, or low value groups on an individual basis based on their type and range. Additionally, a category for “no data” was included for countries that did not provide data for certain indicators. The map showing water stress in Central and Southern Asia was the only map that deviated from this value scale as the FAO has pre-established five levels of water stress. Once the data had been cleaned and categorized it was imported into GIS software as a table to be joined to vector data of country and regional borders.

GIS Data Boundaries
Pre-processing of the borders involved accessing UN boundary files using the provided WMS which provided layers containing the boundaries of countries and the SDG regions for the whole world. Firstly, all of the layers were projected into the Robinson projection in accordance with the advice of Eriksson et al. (2003), who recommended using an equal area map projection for tactile maps, and based on consultations with the thesis advisor. Secondly, the borders were generalized and simplified. The borders were initially generalized using the Simplify Polygon tool in ArcGIS Pro. The parameters of the tool were set to retain critical bends using the Wang-Müller algorithm, with a simplification tolerance of 100 kilometers and a minimum area threshold of 20,000 square kilometers. This was followed by additional generalization which included manual editing to address small areas, geometry issues, and further simplification, such as smoothing sharp corners or removing or grouping small, unattached islands. The chosen simplification tolerance adequately simplified the areas without distorting their shapes and maintained smooth, non-jagged borders that are conducive to tactile exploration while the minimum area threshold eliminated areas too small for tactile detection while retaining critical landforms.

Once the polygon layer was simplified, a table with data from a selected indicator was joined to the border layer based on the country name and exported as a new shapefile into a geodatabase. Countries belonging to the selected region of interest for the indicator were then selected and exported into a new shapefile. The final step in data simplification involved merging adjacent areas with common values using the merge tool in ArcGIS Pro. Final adjustments for the layer were made manually using the editor toolbar in ArcGIS Pro to ensure correct form, and the layer was symbolized based on value groups assigned during the data processing. Additionally, a white outline approximately 3 pt thick (which translates to about 1 mm) was applied to all groups in order to facilitate adding white space between textures in later steps in graphics editing software. This process was repeated for each indicator spreadsheet.

Precipitation
Given that the map series was focused on SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation maps on regional precipitation in the series were created to allow users to familiarize themselves with each region and to give further context for the water situation in each region. The following steps were taken to transform precipitation data into a vector layer of annual precipitation using ArcGIS Pro so that it could be further designed in graphic editing software. Initially, monthly precipitation data for the entire globe for the entire year of 2020 was downloaded in NetCDF format from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which provides gridded data derived from satellite measurements.

Subsequently, the Make NetCDF Raster Layer tool was used to import the Copernicus rasters into ArcGIS Pro. The Mosaic to New Raster tool was used to combine the monthly rasters into one raster showing the average annual precipitation values for the entire globe for the entire year of 2020. Using this tool involved adding all of the rasters from each month, saving them in a geodatabase without file extensions, and specifying parameters such as projection (Robinson), pixel type (32-bit float), number of bands (1), mosaic operator (Mean), and mosaic colormap mode (First). The resulting raster was then clipped to the regional borders discussed previously using Extract by mask. Next, the Reclassify tool was applied to categorize annual precipitation into four categories: none, low, moderate, and high. Following this, the raster was converted into polygons using raster to polygon, delineating areas corresponding to the precipitation categories. Finally, the resulting polygons are smoothed and generalized using the Smooth Polygon tool, with parameters set to Polynomial Approximation with Exponential Kernel (PAEK) smoothing algorithm and a smoothing tolerance of 500 km. Manual edits using the editor toolbar in ArcGIS Pro were made to ensure the precipitation borders matched the regional borders.

User Testing

User testing consisted of a combination of both an interview and a questionnaire. Two rounds of user testing were conducted, for an overview of the demographics of the participants. The first round was held with two students at the Palacký University Olomouc in Olomouc, Czechia. Both students had some residual sight and had a bachelor’s degree or higher in terms of educational achievement. The second round of testing was held at a school for the visually impaired in Prague, Czechia (Gymnázium pro zrakově postižené a Střední odborná škola pro zrakově postižené Praha) with four secondary school students, three of whom were completely blind while one had some residual sight. Overall, the users were between 17 and 29 years old. Most could read Braille and had previous experience with tactile maps, though not necessarily with microcapsule maps. Half of the participants were blind while the other half had some residual sight.

For the testing, users were presented with six tactile maps and a diagram of the water cycle all printed on microcapsule paper. Each user was asked a content-based question about every map or diagram in order to try and ascertain the effectiveness of the map design. After these questions, users were asked a series of twenty-four agreement statements about various aspects of the map content, page layout, and specific elements included on the page. In total users were asked thirty-one questions. Each test lasted around one hour, as the students were very motivated and took the initiative not only to answer the question being asked but to provide additional reasoning for their answer and suggest changes to better the outcome.

All of the users found the maps to be engaging and were excited about the possibility of interacting with environmental educational materials in this manner. However, while the maps worked well for users with some remaining vision, there were many difficulties that arose when using these initial maps for users who were completely blind. The main areas identified for improvement were the size of the maps, the complexity of the maps, and the distinctness of textures and symbols used in the maps.

Microcapsule Map Design

After creating the maps in GIS software, the maps were exported in SVG format and imported into Adobe Illustrator. In Illustrator, textures were added to the maps, and additional elements such as titles, map frames, and other page components were incorporated. Additionally, text pages providing introductory information and further context for the maps were designed within the same software. For more specifics on the exact processes carried out and techniques applied download the complete thesis text (available at the bottom of this page).

Results

Results of User Testing

Following research to determine the design requirements for microcapsule maps, a sample set of maps and a water cycle diagram were produced to implement the recommendations presented in the research in physical form. To evaluate the map designs, user testing was conducted. A questionnaire was developed to identify any issues users might encounter while using the maps. This questionnaire included questions about the users' backgrounds, specific map-related queries, and a series of agreement statements regarding various aspects of the map pages and content.

User testing involved in-person assessments with six participants, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The outcomes of this testing included the identification of problems, improvements to the maps, and suggested design guidelines. During testing, users were first asked specific questions about each map to determine if they could comprehend the content. The findings indicate that some maps were more easily understood than others. However, overall, most users were able to understand the maps, though users with some remaining sight had an easier time comprehending the maps than their blind counterparts.

Users were also presented with twenty-four statements regarding the map content, page layout, and specific elements on the page, and were asked to rank their level of agreement with each statement. The results showed that most users were generally satisfied with the layout, finding that it included all necessary elements, did not include superfluous elements, and was easy to navigate. However, users encountered difficulties with the map content, often finding it too complex, and noted that many of the textures and symbols were not distinct enough. Additionally, while the majority of the page elements were well-received, there were issues with the size and placement of certain elements. Certain symbols were too small, hard to locate, and not distinct enough. Consequently, these symbols were removed from the final map series, and textures were used instead to delineate and identify different areas.

Results of Analysis

In accordance with the stated aims of this thesis, a series of 21 maps presenting SGD 6 was created along with additional supporting materials including one chart, a diagram of the water cycle, and explanatory texts and audio files. The entire series of maps along with all of the supporting materials, including audio files, are available for download as a complete work or as individual maps from a publicly available website created as part of this thesis work.

As a result of numerous consultations with the thesis advisor, Dr. Alena Vondráková, and an expert in tactile graphics and didactics, Dr. Veronika Růžičková along with the feedback received from user testing, many changes were made to the final map design. The changes are summarized below.

The primary change was separating the legend and map frame into two pages, which allowed the size of the map frame to be increased, thus enhancing tactile comprehension. Additionally, some maps were reoriented from landscape to portrait to better fit the geographical orientation of the regions depicted. This split introduced many additional changes to both the map pages and the legend pages which are as follows. Tactile arrows were added to the top-left corner of each page with tactile elements to aid in user orientation. To address the confusion related to the design and placement of the scale, the scale was redesigned and placed outside of the top-left corner of the map frame. Additionally, while a word scale was provided in Braille, additional means of expressing the scale value were provided in text form for sighted users, ensuring that sighted helpers could assist users with visual impairment if needed. Lastly, with more space available on the legend page as a result of this split, information identifying the target and indicator numbers of the data shown was added.

As a result of the unfavorable opinion of using symbols to identify areas, symbols were eliminated in favor of using textures to delimit different areas. For the thematic SDG 6 content, three textures with 0.5 mm lines of varying spacing were used to represent different intensity levels. In addition, the moderate-level texture was rotated 90° to enhance its readability as users sometimes struggled to differentiate between high and moderate textures, especially in small areas. For the maps and graphics that did not rely on the three-level value scale (e.g. precipitation maps), additional textures were created. Textures were designed to be as distinct as possible. During user testing, it was found that textures with small dots, dashes, or squares felt similar when fused, despite their visual distinctiveness. As a result, new textures were developed by altering line orientations or significantly varying dot sizes. The final change made to enhance the distinctiveness of map textures and user comprehension was to remove the tactile country borders. Instead, adjacent areas with the same values were merged, and white space was left between areas with different textures to help users identify a change in textures.

Another significant aspect of this map series is the inclusion of additional explanatory texts to introduce the map series and each tactile map or graphic individually. Research conducted on the SDGs and SDG 6 informed the creation of introductory text pages and explanatory texts for each map. The introductory section includes texts on the SDGs, SDG 6 specifically, a tactile diagram of the water cycle, as well as information on how to navigate the series. Each subsequent section related to an SDG region is introduced by a text on the indictor(s) covered in that section and each tactile map was preceded by a short text explaining the general trends found in the following map.

These texts were then converted into audio recordings using the free Microsoft application Any Text to Voice in MP3 format. There are audio recordings available for every text page though the audio recordings include slightly more information than the text pages as they often introduce the title, year, and scale of the map as well. Each text page also identifies the corresponding audio track in Braille, enabling visually impaired users to select the appropriate audio track. Overall, there were five types of pages: maps or graphics (i.e. diagrams or charts), legends, map texts, indicator texts, and auxiliary texts (e.g. introductory texts or the data sources page). The layout for each page type was standardized to provide a cohesive appearance to the series and facilitate user comprehension. Finally, a website was developed to enable users to access all of the materials.