Nicholas A. Giudice

Brandon Biggs, David Sloan, Brett Oppegaard et al.

Digital geographic maps remain largely inaccessible to blind and low-vision individuals (BLVIs), despite global legislation adopting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). A critical gap exists in defining "equivalent purpose" for maps under WCAG Success Criterion 1.1.1, which requires that non-text content provide a text alternative that serves the "equivalent purpose". This paper proposes a systematic framework for evaluating map accessibility, called the Map Equivalent-Purpose Framework (MEP Framework), defining purpose through three items (Generalized, Spatial Information, and Spatial Relationships), and establishing 15 measurable criteria for equivalent information communication. Eight text map representations were evaluated against visual map baselines using the proposed MEP Framework. Results show that legacy methods such as tables and turn-by-turn directions fail to meet the MEP Framework criteria, while Audiom Maps, Multi User Domain (MUD) Maps, and Audio Descriptions meet the criteria. The evaluation highlights the necessity of holistic, systematic approaches to ensure non-visual maps convey all generalized spatial information and relationships present in visual maps. The MEP Framework provides a replicable methodology for comprehensively assessing digital map accessibility, clarifying WCAG's "equivalent purpose", and guiding compliant and usable map creation. Compliant maps will support BLVIs' participation in map-dependent professions and civic engagement.

Hochul Hwang, Soowan Yang, Anh N. H. Nguyen et al.

Tactile Walking Surface Indicators (TWSIs) are safety-critical landmarks that blind and low-vision (BLV) pedestrians use to locate crossings and hazard zones. From our observation sessions with BLV guide dog handlers, trainers, and an O&M specialist, we confirmed the critical importance of reliable and accurate TWSI segmentation for navigation assistance of BLV individuals. Achieving such reliability requires large-scale annotated data. However, TWSIs are severely underrepresented in existing urban perception datasets, and even existing dedicated paving datasets are limited: they lack robot-relevant viewpoints (e.g., egocentric or top-down) and are geographically biased toward East Asian directional bars - raised parallel strips used for continuous guidance along sidewalks. This narrow focus overlooks truncated domes - rows of round bumps used primarily in North America and Europe as detectable warnings at curbs, crossings, and platform edges. As a result, models trained only on bar-centric data struggle to generalize to dome-based warnings, leading to missed detections and false stops in safety-critical environments.