THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL MAP FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE

Traditional analogue and digital maps are primarily intended for visual review of contents and other data. However, when it comes to people who are visually impaired or are completely blind, the orientation in space relies on other senses which recognize the environment. Therefore, a model of a tactile map must be three-dimensional, so that blind and visually impaired people could use their sense of touch to read a map and to orient themselves in space. This article describes the preparation of tactile maps as well as specific types of maps. Such maps, due to the particularity of the end-user perceptions of the world, have specific dimensions, number, color, shape, and size of map symbols. The paper describes in detail the making of three-dimensional maps for the blind and visually impaired people of the municipality of Novi Grad - Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and the specificity in selecting its content and its cartographic representation.