Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
financial support of institutions such as IPGH (Panamerican Institute of Geography
and History) and the OEA (Organization of American States), several projects were
carried out, and experiences will be presented by the international group.
The project “Dise˜o y Producci
´
n de Cartografia para las Personas Ciegas de
America Latina” was developed in the period from 2002 to 2006 by researchers
from Argentina, Brazil and Chile with the financial support of the OEA. It was
coordinated by Professor Alejandra Coll from the Cartography Department of the
Faculty of Humanities and Social Communication Technologies, Metropolitan
University of Technology (UTEM), Santiago, Chile. Regarding the production of
didactic materials and the organization of courses for teachers, the project counted
on the collaboration of researchers from Cuyo National University of Argentina and
from the LEMADI-DG-USP, Brazil in order to contribute to the improvement and
diffusion of production and reproduction techniques of tactile graphic representations.
The main purpose of this project was to support visually disabled people in
developing special abilities by the use of didactic and cartographic materials such
as atlases, maps, charts, three-dimensional graphic systems and others in an attempt
to improve their formal education and mobility.
This aim was achieved by the making and distributing products with thematic
information (ecosystems, social, economic and cultural aspects) at several scales
(global, continental, national, regional and local).
For the development of the project, an interdisciplinary group was formed
composed by geographers, educators, sociologists, designers and others from the
three participating countries. The whole group met at least once a year to exchange
experiences, present results and define the next stages. The Metropolitan University
of Technology (UTEM—Santiago, Chile) founded, with part of the project
resources, the Latin American Tactile Cartography Center (CCAT). This Center
became the place of coordination and developing the tactile graphic materials
proposed (Figs.
24.1
,
24.2
,
24.3
).
Throughout the 4 years (2002-2006), several tactile didactic cartographic
materials were produced at several scales, followed by manuals with more than
150 tactile graphic representations:
Set of physical, political, population density, vegetation and climatic maps.
(Representations of the world, of Latin America and several member countries
of the OEA).
Didactic materials for geography teaching.
Planet Earth general characteristics plan (water cycle,
tectonic plates and
others).
Models for the teaching of geographic concepts.
Handbook on geographic concepts, printed and in Braille, with the definition of
each concept.
Urban plans of Latin American capitals.
Braille alphabet and printed maps.
One of the biggest challenges at the initial stage of the project was to define
standards for the geographic representation. The discussions were based on
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