Tactile mapping lack of standards in influences the composition cartographic elements, which in some cases are either excluded or represented with characteristics related to normal vision. This study investigates the connection between the types of element orientation of the tactile map related to the safe mobility of the visually impaired person in order to the efficiency in the process of displacement. Thus, experiments were performed in order to examine two specific types of tactile symbols of guidelines used in Brazil: the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and another from the Benjamin Constant Institute (IBC). The choice of the two institutions occurred because other forms of guidance are used in the country as derivations of them. The activity involved four congenital blind individuals and the area for the experiments was the Benjamin Constant Institute (IBC), in Rio de Janeiro, where it was performed a displacement of each one from the Geography room to the mini auditorium from different orientations. The results indicate that the tactile perception and cognitive process related to the construction of the mental map of the users influence the understanding and use of representations analyzed from the hierarchy between the elements that make up the map, the travel time of apprehension and tactile element analysis.
Congenital Blind; Orientation; Perception
