Map of Warsaw for the blind

W pierwszej części artykułu omówiono sposoby postrzegania przestrzeni przez osoby niewidome oraz problematykę opracowywania planów i map dla niewidomych, a w drugiej części opracowany przez autorkę Plan Warszawy dla niewidomych.Blind people use different aids to become acquainted with space. While moving in an unknown area they can use GPS technology with receivers adapted to their needs (J. and J. Kwapisz 1990, F. Mc Williams 1999). Application of these technologies leads to significant costs. Therefore tactual aids (especially maps) still play a significant role in transmission of information for blind people. Correct and optimal reading of a map by a blind person depends on a number of conditions. Among them there are: usefulness, functionality and readability (I. Badetko 1987). The article discusses the Map of Warsaw for the blind, which was prepared as an M.A. thesis in the Chair of Cartography of the Warsaw University Department of Geography and Regional Studies (E. Lipska 2001). It was meant for blind people from the Center for the Blind in Laski near Warsaw as an aid in learning the spacial organization of the city, the lacation of bigger districts, neighbourhoods and junctions. Scale limitations, for mat and contents make it suitable for blind people over the age of twelve; it can be used as an educational aid on geography lessons or at home. The map, which has the character of a reference map (in typhological sense), has been prepared in the scale of 1:30 000. To facilitate its use by blind people several solutions havbe been applied: - the North has been marked with a pointer, - top right corner of the sheet has been cut off, - the legend has been placed on the right. The map's contents has been limited due to capabilities of tactual perception, scale, format and purpose. These limitations effected in significant generalization of the source material (fig. 3). In preparation of a city map the cartographer confronts considerable difficulties because of an unusual level of generalization. The scale of difficulty can be grasped if we realize, that a structure of a city of more than 1 million inhabitants has been shown with only 14 symbols, 3 of which are surface ones. Additionally, he map has been enriched with the names of Warsaw districts and suburbs in Braille's alphabet (52names altogether). The contents of the map in 1:30 000 corresponds to a contents of atlas maps in scales between 1:150 000 and 1:200 000. Graphic form and the choice of symbols, which appear on the Map of Warsaw for the blind has been conditioned by the generalization of the source map and the technology of preparation of the matrix, from which the plan was pressed