The HaptiMap Project Aims to Make Maps Accessible through Touch, Hearing,
  and Vision
From: Basque Research - 03/09/2010

A European consortium plans to develop toolkits and concepts for improving
the multimodal perceptualizations of mobile devices. Researchers on the
HaptiMap project believe that gestures, tactile/haptic interaction, and sound
would make maps and location-based services more accessible for users of
mobile devices, especially when they are walking or cycling, are in bright
sunlight, or for users who may have poor eyesight. The project is expected to
lead to new guidelines on accessibility issues, suggestions for extending
current design practices, and the creation of new tools to help developers
add adaptable multimodal components to applications. The HaptiMap project
hopes to fund a commercial partner to develop a location-based service that
allows users to interact with haptic, audio, and/or visual information.
Sweden's Lund University is the coordinator of the project, whose 13 members
also include the Finnish Geodetic Institute, the University of Glasgow,
Queen's University, and TECNALIA. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.basqueresearch.com/berria_irakurri.asp?Berri_Kod=2592&hizk=I

Links:
HaptiMap
http://haptimap.org/

HaptiMap Research Project
http://www.c-lab.de/en/research-projects/haptimap/index.html

HaptiMap Project Information
http://www.english.certec.lth.se/haptics/HaptiMap/haptmap_folder_v2.pdf
http://www.english.certec.lth.se/haptics/HaptiMap/HaptiMap_year1_overview.pdf