[LINK] Fwd: google maps

[Jan Whitaker]

Google makes their maps more accessible to vision impaired persons.

To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
From: David Andrews dandrews at visi.com

The Official Google Blog

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Speech-friendly textual directions from Google Maps

By T.V. Raman, Research Scientist

12/26/2006 08:31:00 AM

 From time to time, our own T.V. Raman shares his tips on how to use
Google from his perspective as a technologist who cannot see -- tips that
sighted people,
among others, may also find useful. - Ed.

Google Maps and its associated local search is a quick and easy means of
locating businesses and obtaining directions. Most people who use it
already seem
to enjoy the graphical interface with its extremely reactive GUI. But
when using spoken output, this visual richness can get in the way of
quickly listening
to the results of a maps query.

As an alternative, Google Maps also provides a simple to use a textual
interface that serves up directions very efficiently when working with a
screenreader
or a Braille display. This alternative view into Google Maps is here, at
the Textual Maps UI.

http://maps.google.com/?output=html

It's extremely useful for blind and visually impaired users, as well as
an effective solution for those times when you're at a non-graphical
display and
need to quickly look up a location.

Just type a simple English query of the form start address to end address
and quickly get the information you're looking for. Though we added this
option
to enhance the accessibility of Google Maps for blind and low-vision
users, perhaps others will find this alternative view a useful addition
to their maps
arsenal.

Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

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