WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

GIS and accessibility

for

From: ED COHEN
Date: May 29, 2003 3:59PM



Hello,
I work in a State that has adopted 508 as its accessibility standard. Many state agencies use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and are about to start moving them to the Web.

We have established a GIS Policy which states:
1. If data tables (used to populate the map) are small, properly tag and make the data tables available.
2. If data tables are large, provide information on how one may e-mail or telephone the appropriate staff person who can provide the desired information.
3. The removal of color does not affect the page's ability to communicate the information.

In addition, frames are being considered as a way to offer the many choices one uses to make the desired, dynamically-created map.

Some early GIS offerings are www.legislator.in.gov or any of several on
http://www.in.gov/ingisi/map_projects/

It is unlikely that it will be possible to offer a useful "longdesc" for these maps. It may also be difficult using the ISRI software (