Tactile scale models: Three-dimensional info-graphics for space orientation of the blind and visually impaired

The present research started with the two following research questions: What kind of architectural details should be present in a tactile model? Is it possible to build a tactile model with rapid prototyping techniques? To answer these questions it was necessary to study, on one hand, the spatial perception of the blind and visually impaired and the production of tactile models, and on the other hand the available rapid prototyping techniques and materials, as well as 3d modeling procedures for outputting correct STL files. As an outcome of the research, tactile models for UNICAMP's central library were produced in two different scales with the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technique, at the Rapid Prototyping Laboratory of CENPRA (Centro de Pesquisas Renato Archer, Campinas). The models were evaluated and tested by people with different types of visual impairment, with a qualitative method. Many conclusions could be drawn, some of them related to the physical characteristics of the models and other related to spatial perception. For most of the people interviewed the models were very helpful for spatial orientation. One of the most interesting conclusions was that blind people, like people who can see, can have different levels of easiness to understand abstract representations of space.