Overbrook School for Blind’s Talking Campus Model: Demonstrating New Fabrication Methods for Interactive Wayfinding and Orientation Aids

This project develops and refines new fabrication methods to drastically reduce the cost and complexity of universally accessible interactive maps and models for wayfinding and orientation in public places. During Phase I, researchers design, implement, and evaluate the Talking Campus Model for Overbrook School of the Blind. The model includes opaque scale models of campus buildings placed on a translucent base layer showing roads and other landscape features in tactile relief. This assembly is then mounted on a large tablet computer repurposed as a 3D touch sensor. Conductive pathways are embedded in the plastic building models, connecting fingers touching their surfaces to the touch screen below. As users explore the model with their hands, they use a simple gestural vocabulary consisting of single, double, and triple taps on any location to hear spoken information about that place. Simultaneously, visual highlighting and captions appear through the translucent landscape, making additional information available. Students with visual disabilities at Overbrook School are recruited to test the campus model at the conclusion of Phase 1.