Call for Papers for SKALID 2012

The "Workshop on Spatial Knowledge Acquisition with Limited Information Displays" proposed by Falko Schmid, Nicholas Giudice and me for Spatial Cognition 2012 was accepted. It is about the commonalities between tactile maps, visual maps on small displays and other types of maps on limited information displays. Now we seek YOUR submission! See details or download the Call for Papers as PDF.

Tactile Display coupled with Tactile Sensor

As Inside-Handy reports, there is an interesting development by NEC and the Tokioter Institute of Technology: a tactile display is uses coupled with sensory abilities which results in a complete tactile interaction device. In contrast to the original article, I doubt that this device provides any kind of force-feedback abilities. Real force-feedback would demand for any mechanism that can excert a force to the finger(s) or at least the sensation of a force to the mechanoreceptors in the skin. As far as I can see, there is no such think it this prototype. But watch yourself:

Links to work on Spatial Cognition, HCI & Tactile Media

Spatial Cognition

• Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC) 
• "Spatial Cognition" trans-regional research group at Bremen University
• "Spatial Cognition and Wayfinding" lab at Bournemouth University
• Center for Spatial Studies, University of California
• "Spatial Thinking" lab at the University of California

Human Factors in Spatial Cognition

• "Human Factors in GIScience" Lab, Penn State University
• Computer Science and Media, Bauhaus Universität Weimar 

Tactile Media/Maps

• Arbeitsgruppe Studium für Blinde und Sehbehinderte & Professur HCI, Universität Dresden
• Computer-controlled, refreshable tactile displays: 
• with piezo-electric, descrete dots: HyperBraille (demo video)
• with dielectric elastomer, decrete dots (paper1, paper2, paper3)
• HaptiMap EU project 
• Open Street Map for the blind project (published HaptoRenderer) - some output printed with a  graphical embosser (pictures only)

Commercial Projects

• Tactile Maps by Intouch Graphics
• Map for all at RNBI
• Tactile Maps by Perkins Scout 

More links at The Blind Readers' Page