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Zoom Maps are a recent design development from the Teaching Aides Department at Huseby Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired in Oslo, Norway (see Figures 1 and 2). The aim of Zoom graphics is to produce better maps for individuals with visual impairments and to present a design methodology for the producers of tactile graphics. The first two pilot tests of a set of Zoom Maps have proved favorable (see the Pilot tests section).
Zoom Maps and Zoom graphics were designed specifically for braille readers who are not accustomed to reading tactile graphics. Zoom Maps can be thought of as introductory maps that a reader with visual impairment uses before he or she advances to more complicated maps.
A series of Zoom Maps can be compared to those created by online map services. In an online map, a map of an area is presented from a distance and the user is able to "zoom" in closer and closer to see more and more details, both geographical and political. Instead of online screen images, however, Zoom Maps provide hardcopy tactile maps in which each new close-up results in a new, more detailed, page of a tactile graphic (see Figure 3).
In Zoom Maps, the amount of graphic information is restricted to avoid clutter. If the graphics exceed a given amount, the original graphic is divided to create a new map with fewer graphics and more specific information. This division can result in a series or hierarchy of maps that take a small section of a map and "zoom in" on it - hence the name, Zoom Maps.
MAP HIERARCHY
The map hierarchy and number of maps that are needed are dependent on which geographic information will be presented. That is, if one wants to show towns in all the counties of a region, men it is likely that more maps will be required man if only select towns of that region are to be shown. If there is a large amount of information in a section of a map, the section needs to be divided into segments such as Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest - and then four new maps are created to show the detailed information for each new section (see Figure 3).
DESIGN
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