Proceso de elaboración de cartografía táctil para ciegos y débiles visuales

Abstract

Tactile cartography, with writing in Braille, enables the blind and the visually hand- icapped to strengthen their knowledge of geography and capture new geo-infor- mation through their sense of touch. This article presents the process used for making and thermoforming tactile geographic maps at the General Geography and Environ- ment Management, part of the National Institute for Statistics and Geography (INEGI) of Mexico. The process covers the stages of editing the map information, sketching out the map graphically, editing the vertical element in the terrain portrayal, the shap- ing of the terrain and its heights, making a model in plasticine, setting up the initial moulds in plaster and /or latex, cutting and shaping the edges, creating the final mould in resin, thermo-shaping the map, making and attaching the lettering. Moreover, rec- ommendations are given for aiding the reading, interpretation and comprehension of a tactile map, and finally a catalogue of maps made by the institution is described and shown.