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Thread: Online Mapping / Directions

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From: Jordan Wilson
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2015 8:15AM
Subject: Online Mapping / Directions
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Does anyone (or everyone) have an opinion on preferred digital mapping
solutions for accessibility? We frequently embed Google Maps into our
projects for mapping, directions etc. We¹ve been burned by Google Maps¹
inaccessibility a few times and some have suggested using Bing or Apple
Maps instead.

If anyone has an opinion on a preferred tool, ways to use Google Maps
accessibly or other suggestions I¹d appreciate hearing it.


What do you use?

From: Moore,Michael (Accessibility) (HHSC)
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2015 8:21AM
Subject: Re: Online Mapping / Directions
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We have not found Bing maps to be any more accessible than Googles. I know that Derek Featherstone and the folks at Simply Accessible were working on some innovative solutions to this problem. Perhaps one of them is lurking somewhere on this list.

When I was at DARS we found that Rand McNally maps worked reasonably well for our staff who used screen readers. I am not sure if this is still true since it has been a couple of years since I did any testing of Rand McNally's service and web applications generally have rather short update cycles.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator
Texas Health and Human Services Commission
Civil Rights Office
(512) 438-3431 (Office)


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Jordan Wilson
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 9:15 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Online Mapping / Directions

Does anyone (or everyone) have an opinion on preferred digital mapping solutions for accessibility? We frequently embed Google Maps into our projects for mapping, directions etc. We¹ve been burned by Google Maps¹ inaccessibility a few times and some have suggested using Bing or Apple Maps instead.

If anyone has an opinion on a preferred tool, ways to use Google Maps accessibly or other suggestions I¹d appreciate hearing it.


What do you use?

From: Paul Adam
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2015 10:00AM
Subject: Re: Online Mapping / Directions
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If you're dealing with Native iOS apps then Apple maps is the most accessible map view I've tested. VoiceOver users can focus on all the map data, streets, points of interest, etc.

Most of the Google Map views I've tested in native apps have not been accessible.

Would be nice if Apple made a web based map view because Google's web map views are not accessible either but you can make them keyboard operable but that's never the default, the default is always not accessible.

Paul J. Adam
Accessibility Evangelist
www.deque.com <http://www.deque.com/>;
> On Nov 24, 2015, at 9:15 AM, Jordan Wilson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >> wrote:
>
> Does anyone (or everyone) have an opinion on preferred digital mapping
> solutions for accessibility? We frequently embed Google Maps into our
> projects for mapping, directions etc. We¹ve been burned by Google Maps¹
> inaccessibility a few times and some have suggested using Bing or Apple
> Maps instead.
>
> If anyone has an opinion on a preferred tool, ways to use Google Maps
> accessibly or other suggestions I¹d appreciate hearing it.
>
>
> What do you use?
>
>
> > > >

From: Jennifer Sutton
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2015 8:34PM
Subject: Re: Online Mapping / Directions
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Greetings:

Here are a number of links, below my name, related to online
mapping/directions.

Some are very likely out-of-date, but I include them because I expect
concepts, if not specifics, may still apply.

Best,
Jennifer

From Simply Accessible (a company that someone mentioned earlier in
this thread):
Find Your Way with Accessible Maps - Simply Accessible Store
http://store.simplyaccessible.com/virtual-seminar/accessible-maps/

Accessible SVG Map (as an example):
http://examples.simplyaccessible.com/svg-maps/


From other sites:

http://unobfuscated.blogspot.com/2013/11/accessible-google-maps.html

http://www.accessiq.org/news/news/2015/03/accessibility-tip-making-maps-accessible

http://www.4syllables.com.au/2010/06/text-alternatives-maps/

http://wiki.accessibilityoz.com.au/doku.php/checklists/maps/start

http://alistapart.com/article/cssmaps

http://accessibility.psu.edu/images/maps/

http://www.pcc.edu/resources/disability/accessible-building-features.html#sy-cc-1