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Fig. 24.3 Water cycle and continental drift produced in the project
professional experience and on the existing literature. Some of the patterns were
limited by the parametres of thermophorm machine available at CCAT.
For this reason, it was decided that some standards would be applied for all maps
of the project in order to make the reading and the evaluation of visually disabled
students easier. These standards define the sort of tactile graphic representation
produced at CCAT and distributed among the OEA members and project
collaborators. It was established, for instance, that the North would be indicated
by a dashed horizontal line placed on the top of the map. The maps showed, as
frequently as possible, the North in this position, facilitating the students reading
and comprehension of this variable or geographic notion.
As the convention for printed maps defines that the North (magnetic and
geographic) is represented by an arrow. The Brazilian group proposed the keeping
of the arrow for identifying the North direction. In this case, it would be represented
with a vertical straight segment and an arrow in relief with the letter N in Braille, or
a variation suggested by Vasconcellos ( 1993 ),
in which the dashed line is
complemented by an arrow.
However, after the evaluation of some maps by teachers specialized in visual
disability, all the group researchers reinforced the idea of the use of the dashed line,
confirming, then, the linear representation of the North as shown by Fig. 24.4 .
It was decided that the scale would be graphically represented. The efficacy of
the graphic scale in tactile maps has already been confirmed by Vasconcellos'
research (1993). The concept of scale is abstract and its representation in a numeri-
cal form (proportion between real space and the represented one, using centimetres)
makes it difficult to understand the idea of reduction of the map. This would
demand another concept, the transformation of measures. However, the simplified
scale representation may make the reading of the map and the comprehension of the
concept of scale easy.
With the graphic scale, the user can explore the map with both hands: one of
them fixed at the scale, and the other searching distances. In this way, one can
establish a relation of proportion between the line segment of the scale and the
represented distances.
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