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The realm of cartography depicts many facets of the physical space within both urban and non urban settings. Specifically within the urban setting lies the challenge of navigating spaces such as roads, sidewalks, and buildings. What are some good representations of mapping accessible spaces for those with physical limitations?

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Are you ruling out some of the posts on a web search using "accessibility mapping" as a keyword? Several examples on some of the first page links show examples of cost distance/cost path analysis done within a GIS. If this isn't the type of thing you are looking for, could you elaborate further. – Dan Patterson May 19 '11 at 11:38
@Dan Patterson, my intention of this question was to stay broad to get a general feel of what people identify as accessibility mapping. So, yes cost distance/cost path analysis maps are an example to consider. – artwork21 May 19 '11 at 12:09
"You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page." -- to be fair this isn't enforced nearly as much as it should be but I still think it's a good rule. – Sean May 19 '11 at 15:03
open-ended questions can be community wiki question... – Mapperz May 19 '11 at 15:08

2 Answers 2

up vote 2 down vote accepted

There are some related resources (projects, webmaps, mailing list) on the OpenStreetMap accessibility page:

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+1 Some good examples (, and on your link. – artwork21 May 19 '11 at 14:37

I've blogged recently about OpenLayers & Accessibility but as Sarah Bourne said:

Instead of asking, "How can I make a map accessible?" you need to ask a series of questions.
    * What is the purpose of this map: showing where things are located? their proximity to other things? how to get someplace?
    * What kind of information is it showing?
    * What other ways are there of presenting that information?

There are some basic things though that really can be done and generally haven't been. Map controls should be keyboard accessible. There really should be no need to have a separate "accessible" map. The output from that map should have an alternate way to convey the information it is showing, but that can be done in the result set (like Google Maps does) which benefits everyone.

Also elements like addressing color contrast for the maps can help.

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