Accessibility Ambassadors: Designing Accessible Maps for All!
On May 27 we will be joined by Amy Ellison and Ruth MacDonald from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Kitty Hurley of MN IT Services, who will share their knowledge of map accessibility. This special session will be two hours long, with a short break after the first half.
Maps tell a story, and so should be usable and understandable to everyone. This means making design choices that consider, from the very start, users with different situations, such as color vision deficiency and visual impairments, motor impairments, and cognitive disabilities and conditions; cultural understandings; and much more.
This session will highlight accessible map principles and how to design for the web using color, patterns, aerial photos, and more. Once designed, we’ll highlight how to tag maps, use alternative text, and incorporate accessible web standards. Additionally, we will provide tools, resources, and tip sheets to incorporate accessibility into map products.
Content is focused on cartography, static maps (e.g., PNG, or PDF-based), and interactive web maps. Participants will learn ways to make their maps digitally accessible. This session assumes general accessibility knowledge and some basic PDF tagging in Acrobat. All audiences welcome!
Recording: Accessibility Ambassadors: Designing Accessible Maps for All!
About Accessibility Ambassadors
Accessibility Ambassadors are a group of University employees from across all campuses who are passionate about making U of M digital resources more accessible online. They bring different skills, strengths, and backgrounds, but all want to create an inclusive and accessible community at the U of M.
They host events to teach, advocate, and discuss digital accessibility topics and strive to be resources for the University community.
To learn about more accessibility-related events at the University of Minnesota, please visit Accessible U.
For more information about the Ambassadors, join the Google Group or send an email to: accessibility-ambassadors@umn.edu.