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International Conference on Spatial Cognition

Spatial Cognition 2010: Spatial Cognition VII pp 303–318Cite as

Verbally Annotated Tactile Maps – Challenges and Approaches

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 6222))

Abstract

Survey knowledge of spatial environments can be successfully conveyed by visual maps. For visually impaired people, tactile maps have been proposed as a substitute. The latter are hard to read and to understand. This paper proposes how the cognitive disadvantages can be compensated for by Verbally Annotated Tactile (VAT) maps. VAT maps combine two representational components: a verbal annotation system as a propositional component and a tactile map as a spatial component. It is argued that users will benefit from the cross-modal interaction of both. In a pilot study it is shown that using tactile You-Are-Here maps that only implement the spatial component is not optimal. I argue that some of the problems observed can be compensated for by incorporating verbal annotations. Research questions on cross-modal interaction in VAT maps are formulated that address the challenges that have to be overcome in order to benefit from propositional and spatial representations induced by VAT maps.

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Authors
  1. Christian Graf
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cognitive Science, Institute of Computer Science and Social Research, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Friedrichstraße 50, 79098, Freiburg, Germany

    Christoph Hölscher

  2. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Weiss Hall 1701 North 13th Street, 19122-6085, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Thomas F. Shipley  & Nora S. Newcombe  & 

  3. Department of Psychology, ’Sapienza’ University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Marta Olivetti Belardinelli

  4. FB 10, Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Sciences, University of Bremen, Building GW2, Bibliothekstraße 1, 28334, Bremen, Germany

    John A. Bateman

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Graf, C. (2010). Verbally Annotated Tactile Maps – Challenges and Approaches. In: Hölscher, C., Shipley, T.F., Olivetti Belardinelli, M., Bateman, J.A., Newcombe, N.S. (eds) Spatial Cognition VII. Spatial Cognition 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 6222. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14749-4_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14749-4_26

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14748-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14749-4

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