Create a tactile map

Tactile maps are maps that, when printed on swell touch paper, have raised features that can be read by touch, making them accessible to people with visual impairments.

In this tutorial, you'll create a tactile map for a friend who is visually impaired. Your friend lives in Washington, D.C., and likes to visit Murrow Park. Though they are fully able to navigate the area, they want an overview of the neighborhood to better understand its topology, including the relative locations of the park and nearby roads and buildings.

Using ArcGIS Pro, you'll map Murrow Park with symbology that is distinguishable by touch. You'll improve the map's legibility by simplifying and combining certain features and symbols. Then, you'll create a layout with a title, scale bar, and legend in Braille. Your ultimate result will be a map that is ready to be printed on swell touch paper as a tactile map.

Though this workflow maps Murrow Park in Washington, D.C., the techniques you learn can be applied to create tactile maps for locations around the world.

This tutorial was last tested on June 11, 2025, using ArcGIS Pro 3.5. If you're using a different version of ArcGIS Pro, you may encounter different functionality and results.

Requirements

• ArcGIS Pro Advanced (see options for software access)

Create the map

The main goal of a tactile map is to aid in orientation, not navigation, so legibility is valued over topographic detail. Tactile maps allow people with visual impairments to build a cognitive map of an area, a process that starts with understanding a general outline and then examining details to cumulatively enhance that understanding.

An effective tactile map assists this process by showing reference points for orientation with distinguishable symbols and generalized detail. Useful reference points can include buildings, grasslands, forests, water bodies, roads, crossings, and public transport stops. Including these reference points with generalized topographic detail is important because perception by touch, also known as haptic perception, constrains the ability to process information on a map.

Note:

To learn more about the tactile mapping initiative, read the ArcGIS StoryMaps Towards Inclusiveness story. For more information on tactile mapping, read Tactile Mapping: Cartography for People with Visual Impairments, edited by Vincent van Altena and Jakub Wabiński. To learn more about haptic perception, see Chapter 3 of the book.

The map you'll create will contain a limited number of feature types and prioritize features that are the most important reference points in the area.

Download the data

First, you'll download and install the Braille font used in the project and a project package containing a map of Murrow Park.

1. Download the Font.zip folder.
2. Extract the downloaded zipped folder to a location of your choice, such as your Documents folder.

   The folder contains the Braille Dedicon basis 24pt NL6Dots v02 font file, which is the Braille font used in the project.

   Note:

   Though Braille is standardized with a core set of universal characters, there are variations that extend the script for specific languages and regions. Other Braille fonts, such as Unified English Braille, are also appropriate for tactile mapping projects. For this workflow, it is recommended you install the Braille Dedicon font, which is used in the layout files that come with the project.

3. Browse to the extracted folder and open the Braille Dedicon basis 24pt NL6Dots v02 file. In the file, click Install.

   

   After a few moments, the font is installed.

4. Close the font file.

   Next, you'll download and open an ArcGIS Pro project package that contains a default map of the Murrow Park area.

5. Download the Tactile_Map.ppkx file.
6. Double-click the downloaded Tactile_Map.ppkx file to open it in ArcGIS Pro. If prompted, sign in using your ArcGIS account credentials.

   Note:

   If you don't have access to ArcGIS Pro or an ArcGIS organizational account, see options for software access.

   The project's map shows points of interest, roads, buildings, and grass in and around Murrow Park. The map contains no basemap, as a basemap provides extra topographic detail that is not necessary for or that may be detrimental to a tactile map.

   

   All of the layers on the map were extracted from OpenStreetMap data hosted on ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. OpenStreetMap is an international community of mappers that create datasets of features throughout the world for public use, as long as OpenStreetMap and its contributors are credited.

   Tip:

   OpenStreetMap is globally available, so you can use its data to create a tactile map for any place in the world. To find data for your area of interest, go to ArcGIS Living Atlas and search for OpenStreetMap. In the search results, click the All regions search filter and choose a country to limit the results to those relevant to you. Because OpenStreetMap feature services cover large areas, you may find it useful to clip or extract them to your area of interest. To learn how to clip or extract data, try the tutorials Clip features to a region or Select and extract a subset of features.

   The features on the map are not symbolized in a way that is appropriate for tactile maps. You'll download a style file with tactile mapping symbols and add it to the project.

7. Download the Tactile_Map_Styles.stylx file.
8. In ArcGIS Pro, in the Catalog pane, right-click the Styles folder, point to Add, and choose Add Style.

   Note:

   If you can't find the Catalog pane, on the ribbon, click View. In the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.

   

9. In the Add a style file window, browse to the location where you downloaded the style file. Double-click Tactile_Map_Styles.

   The file is added.

10. In the Catalog pane, expand Styles and confirm Tactile_Map_Styles is included in the list.

    

    The styles you'll use to create your tactile map are now accessible from the symbology gallery.

Create an anchor point

Every tactile map includes a central reference point called an anchor point. The anchor point is used as a cognitive reference for all other features on the map, meaning the map's users can identify the location of other features relative to it.

The location of the anchor point depends on the map's focus. In this case, the focus of the map is Murrow Park, so you'll add the anchor point there.

First, you'll create a feature class for the anchor point.

1. In the Catalog pane, expand Databases.

   Feature classes must be created in geodatabase folders. Your project comes with a default geodatabase, tactile_map.gdb.

2. Right-click tactile_map.gdb, point to New, and choose Feature Class.

   

3. In the Create Feature Class pane, for Name, type Anchor_Point. For Alias, type Anchor Point.

   

4. For Feature Class Type, choose Point.

   

   There are more advanced options for creating a feature class, but because the anchor point is a only visual reference point with no attribute information, you don't need to set them. By default, the feature class's coordinate system will be set to WGS 1984 Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere), which is the coordinate system of the map.

5. At the bottom of the Create Feature Class pane, click Finish.

   

   The feature class is created and added to the map. Right now, the feature class has no data in it, so nothing appears on the map. You'll edit the feature class to add an anchor point feature in Murrow Park.

6. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Features group, click Create.

   

   The Create Features pane appears with a list of all types of features you can create. The available features are based on the layers on the map.

7. In the Create Features pane, click the Anchor Point feature.

   

   Note:

   The default symbology of the Anchor Point feature is random and may differ from the example image.

   The feature is selected. When you point to the map, the pointer is changed to represent the feature. Clicking the map will add a feature at the place where you click.

8. On the map, locate Murrow Park (the pair of triangle-shaped grass features near the center of the map). Click near the center of the park's western triangle.

   

   Tip:

   If the location you click doesn't match the example image exactly, that's fine. However, if you make a mistake, you can delete the feature. On the ribbon, in the Features group, click Delete and confirm that you want to delete the feature. Then, try adding the feature again. It might also be useful to ensure snapping is turned off, so your pointer doesn't snap to other features when editing. To turn off snapping, on the ribbon, in the Snapping group, ensure the Snapping button is not highlighted.

   When you're satisfied with the location of the anchor point, you'll finish editing.

9. Close the Create Features pane.

   Closing the pane returns your pointer to normal. The point you added is selected by default, so you'll deselect it.

10. At the bottom of the map, click the Deselect all currently selected features button.

    

    Next, you'll save your edits.

11. On the ribbon, in the Manage Edits group, click Save.

    

12. In the Save Edits window, click Yes.

    The anchor point's symbology must be appropriate for haptic perception. You'll change its symbol to a standard symbol for anchor points in tactile maps from the style file you downloaded.

13. In the Contents pane, click the Anchor Point symbol.

    

    The Symbology pane appears. The symbol gallery contains symbols from the Tactile_Map_Styles file, including one for anchor points.

14. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click the Primary Focus Point symbol.

    

    The symbol, a circle with a dot at the center, is applied to the anchor point on the map.

    

    Note:

    Every tactile map has its own anchor point. If you make a tactile map for your own area of interest, be sure to create an anchor point at a primary focus point.

Symbolize features

Next, you'll apply tactile mapping symbology to the other features on the map.

1. In the Contents pane, click the Buildings symbol.

   

2. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click the Building symbol.

   

   The symbol is applied to all buildings.

3. In the Contents pane, click the Grass symbol.
4. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click Grass.

   

   The symbol is applied to all grass features.

   Note:

   In addition to grass, water and forests have unique tactile symbols. There are no water bodies or forests on the map, so you won't use these symbols in this workflow. If you were creating a tactile map for your area of interest and did have these features, you'd use the Forest symbol for forests and the Water symbol for water bodies.

   All polygon features have appropriate symbols. Next, you'll change the symbols for the Points of Interest layer. This layer has two types of features: one for street crossings and one for traffic signals. You'll give each type a different symbol.

   Note:

   This map only has crossings and traffic signals, but other tactile maps may include public transport stops, stations, or other types of features.

5. In the Contents pane, under Points of Interest, click the Crossing symbol.

   

6. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click Crossing.

   

7. In the Contents pane, under Points of Interest, click the Traffic Signals symbol. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click Traffic Lights.

   

   Both point of interest feature types have appropriate symbols. On the map, there are many crossing and traffic signal features close together at major road intersections, which reduces the legibility of the map. Later, you'll learn how to simplify the number of features in these areas to make the map more legible.

   For now, you'll continue symbolizing the features on the map. Only the roads remain. There are four types of road features, depending on the size and type of the road.

8. In the Contents pane, under Roads, click the Motorway symbol.

   

   As before, the Symbology pane appears with a gallery of symbols. The line symbols included in the Tactile_Map_Styles file have variations depending on the way you want to present a symbol. The primary symbols for different types of roads include two components: the symbol and the casing.

   In this example, the symbol is a black line or patterned line that depicts the road. The casing is a white boundary that surrounds the symbol to ensure it is legible on the map. You'll learn more about casings and how to use them later. For now, you'll only use the symbol for each type of road.

9. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click Motorway (Symbol).

   

   The next two road symbols, Secondary and Tertiary, depict similar types of roads. Because legibility is valued over topographic detail in tactile maps, you'll give the same symbol to each, rather than giving them unique symbols.

   Note:

   The original OpenStreetMap data for roads included many more classes than the four shown in the Roads layer. To streamline this tutorial, the number of classes was reduced to four.

10. Symbolize the Secondary roads with Street (Symbol).

    

11. Symbolize the Tertiary roads with Street (Symbol).

    The last type of road is footpaths. Unlike the other road types, which indicate vehicular roads, footpaths are for pedestrian traffic.

12. Symbolize the Footpath roads with Footpath (Symbol).

    

    All of the features on the map have been symbolized with tactile mapping symbols.

    

    You've created a tactile map with appropriate features and symbology. However, there are a few legibility issues that might make the map difficult to understand for people with visual impairments.

    Based on the map, how many legibility issues can you identify? How do you think they can be resolved? Try creating a list of legibility issues before proceeding to the next part of the tutorial. Being able to identify these issues will help you create your own tactile maps, which may have different issues than the map in this tutorial.

13. Close the Symbology pane. On the Quick Access Toolbar, click the Save Project button.

    

Next, you'll improve your map by addressing the legibility issues.

Improve legibility

A map's ability to be read by people with visual impairments is the most important consideration when making a tactile map. Though your map uses symbols that can be distinguished by touch, there remain legibility issues caused by complex, cluttered, or overlapping features. These include the following issues:

• Building features have shared borders and overly complex geometry.
• Street intersections are cluttered with multiple crossing and traffic signal symbols.
• Footpaths in the park are difficult to distinguish from the underlying grass symbol.
• Footpaths on the sides of streets intersect the boundaries of other symbols.

You'll make changes to the features and symbols to address these issues.

Note:

When creating a tactile map for your own area of interest, you may encounter legibility issues similar to those shown in this workflow or different issues unique to the area. Consider your map's particular characteristics when addressing legibility issues.

Dissolve and simplify buildings

First, you'll improve the legibility of the buildings. Shared boundaries between adjacent buildings reduce legibility without providing useful information to a user. Additionally, some buildings have small protrusions or indentations that increase the complexity of the shape and make it more difficult to understand by touch.

You'll dissolve adjacent building features to remove shared boundaries. Then, you'll simplify the building polygons to remove excess detail.

1. On the ribbon, click the Analysis tab. In the Tools group, click the More button.

   

   A list of common tools appears.

2. Scroll to the Manage Data section and click Pairwise Dissolve.

   

   The Geoprocessing pane appears, showing the Pairwise Dissolve tool. This tool aggregates adjacent features or features with identical attributes, depending on the parameters you set.

3. For Input Features, choose Buildings. For Output Feature Class, delete the text and type Buildings_Dissolve.

   You won't dissolve features based on attribute fields, so you'll leave the next two parameters unchanged.

4. Uncheck Create multipart features.

   

5. Click Run.

   The tool runs. On the map, most adjacent buildings have been combined.

   

   There are still a few adjacent buildings with boundaries between them. These remain because there are small gaps between the buildings that are difficult or impossible to see when zoomed out. To further improve the legibility of the buildings, you could edit them to remove the remaining boundaries. For this tutorial, you won't take that step.

   Note:

   To learn how to edit features to remove gaps and other errors, try the tutorial Edit features to create enumeration areas.

   Next, you'll run another tool to simplify the building geography.

6. In the Geoprocessing pane, click the Back button.

   

7. In the search bar, type Simplify Building. In the list of search results, click Simplify Building (Cartography Tools).

   Note:

   The Simplify Building tool is only available with ArcGIS Pro Advanced. If you don't have an Advanced license and can't access the tool, you can skip the steps for running the tool and proceed with the rest of the workflow.

   

8. For Input Features, choose Buildings_Dissolve. For Output Feature Class, delete the text and type Buildings_Simplified.

   Next, you'll set the simplification tolerance. This parameter decides how much the buildings are simplified. The larger the tolerance, the more the buildings will be simplified. The best value to choose depends on the situation and size of the buildings. A map with many small buildings and corners might require a value of 10 or 15 meters. For this map, which has relatively large buildings, you'll use a tolerance of 5 meters.

9. For Simplification Tolerance, type 5. Confirm the unit is set to Meters.

   

   The remaining parameters can also improve simplification and might be appropriate for certain situations, but for this workflow, you'll leave them unchanged.

   Tip:

   To learn more about any tool parameter, point to the parameter and point to the information button that appears next to the parameter name.

10. Click Run.

    The tool runs and simplified buildings are created. The simplified buildings overlap with the other building layers. You'll remove those layers, which you no longer need.

11. In the Contents pane, right-click Buildings and choose Remove. Also remove the Buildings_Dissolve layer.

    Tip:

    If you want to access the layers you removed from the map later, you can find them in the project geodatabase. In the Catalog pane, expand Databases and expand tactile_map.gdb.

    Only the simplified buildings appear on the map.

    

    There are fewer protrusions or indentations that complicate the building features, and their boundaries are smoother.

12. In the Contents pane, click Buildings_Simplified to select it. Click it again to make its name editable and change the name to Buildings.
13. Close the Geoprocessing pane.

Create features for intersections

At most street intersections, there are many overlapping crossing and traffic signal symbols, which cause issues with legibility. The large number of symbols is because each crossing and traffic signal at an intersection is individually represented. This level of topographic detail isn't necessary for a tactile map.

To resolve the issue, you'll create a single point feature at each intersection to represent all crossings and traffic signals at that intersection. Then, you'll symbolize intersections that have crossings and traffic signals with a combined symbol that indicates both types at once.

Note:

This solution is tailored to this map specifically and might not be applicable to other locations with different topological features. The workflow is included as an example of how you can retain map information while reducing legibility issues. You're encouraged to be creative when creating a tactile map for your own area of interest.

First, you'll create a new feature class to contain the points you'll make for each intersection. This process is similar to when you made the feature class for the anchor point.

1. In the Catalog pane, right-click tactile_map.gdb, point to New, and choose Feature Class.
2. In the Create Feature Class pane, set the following parameters:
   • For Name, type Intersections_Combined.
   • For Alias, type Intersections.
   • For Feature Class Type, choose Point.

   On the map, there are two types of intersections: intersections with only crossings and intersections with both crossings and traffic signals. (Though some intersections may appear to only have traffic signals, they have crossings under the traffic signal symbols.)

   You want each type of intersection to have a different symbol, so you need a way to distinguish the two types in the feature class's data. To do that, you'll manage the attribute fields in the feature class.

3. At the bottom of the Create Feature Class pane, click Next.

   The Fields page appears.

4. In the list of fields, click Click here to add a new field.

   

5. For Field Name, type Type. For Data Type, choose Text.

   

   This field will contain the information you need to distinguish the two types of intersection.

6. At the bottom of the Create Feature Class pane, click Finish.

   The feature class is created and added to the map. Like the anchor point feature class, it doesn't have any data; you'll edit it to add points for each intersection.

7. On the ribbon, click the Edit tab. In the Features group, click Create.
8. In the Create Features pane, click the Intersections feature.

   Unlike when you created the anchor point, you want the features you create to have information in the type field you added to the feature class. You can add this information as you add the features.

9. Click the Open the active template pane button.

   

   In the Active Template pane, you can add attributes for features before you create them. First, you'll create features for intersections that have crossings and traffic lights.

10. For Type, click Null. Type Crossing/Traffic Lights and press Enter.

    

    Each point you add will have this information automatically added to its attribute data. You're ready to add points to the map for these intersections.

    Note:

    If you have difficulty with the editing workflow in the next few steps, you can skip it by using a completed feature class of intersections that has been prepared for you. In the Catalog pane, expand tactile_map.gdb. Right-click Points_of_Interest_Improved and choose Add To Current Map. This feature class can be symbolized the same way as you'll symbolize the Intersections layer later in this section.

11. On the map, click to add a point at the center of each of the eight intersections that have both crossing symbols and traffic signal symbols.

    

    Tip:

    If you make a mistake when adding an intersection, you can remove it by clicking the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar or using the Undo keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+Z.

    Next, you'll add points for intersections that only have crossings.

12. In the Create Features pane, next to Type, click Crossing/Traffic Lights to edit it. Type Crossing and press Enter.

    

13. On the map, click to add a point at the center of each of the six intersections that only have crossing symbols.

    

    You've added a point with appropriate attribute information for each intersection.

14. Close the Create Features pane. At the bottom of the map, click the Deselect all currently selected features button.
15. On the ribbon, in the Manage Edits group, click Save. In the Save Edits window, click Yes.

Symbolize intersections

Next, you'll change the symbol for each type of intersection. Currently, every intersection has the same symbol, so you'll change the symbology type.

1. In the Contents pane, right-click Intersections and choose Symbology.
2. In the Symbology pane, for Primary symbology, choose Unique Values.

   

   The symbology changes so that unique values for a specified field have unique symbols. By default, Type is chosen as the field.

3. Click the Add all values button.

   

   Two values are added: Crossing and Crossing/Traffic Lights. There is also a value for all other values. You don't need this one, so you'll remove it.

4. Right-click all other values and choose Remove.

   

   Next, you'll change the symbol for each type of intersection.

5. Click the Crossing symbol. In the gallery of symbols, click Crossing.
6. In the Contents pane, click the symbol for Crossing/Traffic Lights.
7. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery of symbols, click Traffic Lights/Crossing.

   

   Both types of intersection have a unique symbol. You'll remove the original Points of Interest layer.

8. Close the Symbology pane. In the Contents pane, right-click Points of Interest and choose Remove.

   On the map, each intersection only has a single symbol, either a crossing symbol or a combined symbol for crossings and traffic lights.

   

Create casings for park footpaths

The footpaths in parks are not legible due to the underlying grass symbol. To make the footpaths more distinguishable from the surrounding features, you'll add a white outline to the footpaths called a casing (also known as comfort white). Casings improve visual legibility but are especially important for tactile maps due to the limitations of haptic observation.

Note:

For more information on cartography considerations for tactile maps, see chapters 3 through 7 of Tactile Mapping: Cartography for People with Visual Impairments.

You could add a casing to the entire roads layer, but for this particular map, that solution isn't ideal. The footpaths on the sides of roads are often very close to surrounding buildings and parks, so adding casing to them would obscure the edges of those features.

Instead, you'll select the footpaths in parks that you want to create casings for and extract them to a new feature class. Then, you'll add casings only for those footpaths. To make selecting the footpaths easier, you'll make other layers on the map unselectable.

1. In the Contents pane, click the List By Selection button.

   

   The layers on the map are listed, with check boxes indicating whether the layer is selectable. By default, all layers can be selected.

2. Uncheck all layers except Roads.

   

   Now, only roads can be selected.

3. On the ribbon, click the Map tab. In the Selection group, click the Select button.

   

4. On the map, press Shift while clicking each footpath feature inside Murrow Park.

   

   Tip:

   If you accidentally select a footpath outside of Murrow Park, press Ctrl and click it to deselect it.

   There's another park in the northwest of the map extent. You'll select its footpaths, too.

5. Continue pressing Shift while selecting the footpaths in the park to the northwest of the map extent.

   

   Note:

   If you've panned or zoomed the map at any point in the workflow, you might not see the park to the northwest, or you might see other footpaths that are outside the default map extent. To return to the default map extent, on the ribbon, click the Map tab. In the Navigate group, click Bookmarks and choose Default Extent.

   Footpaths in both parks are selected. According to the Contents pane, there are a total of 9 selected features. (If you have a slightly different number, that's fine as long as all the park footpaths are selected.)

   

   You'll export the selected features to a new feature class.

6. In the Contents pane, right-click Roads, point to Data, and choose Export Features.

   

   The Export Features pane appears. By default, only selected features will be exported.

7. For Output Feature Class, delete the text and type Park_Footpaths.

   

8. Click OK.

   The new feature class is created and added to the map. Because it overlaps with the Roads layer, you can't see it currently.

   Tip:

   If you had trouble selecting the correct features, you can instead use a feature class that has been prepared for you. In the Catalog pane, expand tactile_map.gdb. Right-click Footpaths_Exported and choose Add To Current Map.

9. At the bottom of the map, click Deselect all currently selected features. On the ribbon, in the Navigate group, click the Explore button.

   

   You can navigate the map normally again. Now that you've created a feature class of only park footpaths, you'll create casings for it.

   You can add casings in two ways. First, you can change the symbol to one that includes both the footpath symbol and the casing. This way is quicker, but when multiple road features intersect, the casings of each feature will overlap the footpath symbols of the others, reducing legibility. You'll create casings the second way, by copying the park footpaths layer and symbolizing the copy with the casing.

10. In the Contents pane, click the List By Drawing Order button.

    

11. In the Contents pane, right-click Park_Footpaths and choose Copy.
12. Right-click Map and choose Paste.

    

    A copy of the park footpaths is added to the map. Before you continue, you'll rename the copy so you don't confuse it with the original.

13. Click the Park_Footpaths copy to make its name editable. Rename it to Park Footpaths Casing.

    You also want the casing to appear under the road symbols and not cover them up.

14. Drag the Park Footpaths Casing layer under the Roads layer.

    

    Lastly, you'll symbolize the layer to use the casing symbol.

15. Under Park Footpaths Casing, click the Footpath symbol. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click Footpath (Casing).

    

    Now, on the map, footpaths in parks have a white boundary that makes them distinct from the grass symbol.

    

    Note:

    In this map, only park footpaths needed casing to distinguish them from surrounding features. When making a tactile map for your area of interest, there may be other features that require casing for legibility. As a rule of thumb, the width of a casing should be triple the width of the symbol it surrounds. For instance, a black line with a width of 1 px should have a casing of 3 px.

Combine roads and footpaths

The last legibility issue you'll address involves footpaths on the sides of roads. These footpaths generally indicate sidewalks. Due to their position, they often touch the boundaries of buildings or parks when symbolized, making them difficult to distinguish.

On this map, every road around Murrow park has a footpath on either side of it, so you can address the legibility issue by combining the symbols for roads with those of footpaths. By drawing the footpaths at a fixed distance from roads, the footpaths won't intersect the other features on the map.

Note:

This solution won't work for some tactile maps, such as ones where not every road has footpaths on both sides. A way to address this issue in other maps might be to select the specific roads that do have footpaths, extract them to a new feature class (like you did with the park footpaths), and symbolize them appropriately.

1. In the Contents pane, right-click Roads and choose Symbology.

   First, you'll turn off the current footpath symbols. Because you already exported the park footpaths, turning footpaths off in Roads layer will only turn off footpaths on the sides of roads.

   Note:

   There are a few footpaths in the southwest corner of the map that are neither in parks nor near roads. These footpaths will also be turned off. You could select and extract these footpaths to a new feature class to keep them on the map, but for this tutorial, you'll turn them off.

2. In the Symbology pane, uncheck the Footpath symbol.

   

   Now, only park footpaths appear on the map, because they were exported to a different layer. All of the footpaths in the Roads layer are turned off.

   Next, you'll change the other road symbols to use a combined symbol that shows roads and footpaths.

3. Click the Motorway symbol.
4. In the symbol gallery, click Motorway/Footpath.

   

5. In the Contents pane, under Roads, click the Secondary symbol.
6. In the Symbology pane, in the gallery, click Secondary/Footpath.
7. Change the Tertiary symbol to Tertiary/Footpath.

   On the map, all roads now have a symbol that shows the road and footpaths on either side of it.

   

   Though there are still some areas where the footpath symbol is close to a building or grass symbol, the map's legibility has been significantly improved.

   In case you navigated the map somewhere else during the workflow, you'll return to the default extent.

8. On the ribbon, in the Navigate group, click Bookmarks. Choose the Default Extent bookmark.

   

9. Close the Symbology pane. Save the project.

You've made several changes to the map to improve its legibility for people with visual impairments. Remember that the workflow to improve legibility will be different for tactile maps with different areas of interest. The solutions for the Murrow Park map might not be appropriate for others. When creating a tactile map, consider the challenges particular to that map. Sometimes, cartographic ingenuity might be necessary to improve a tactile map's legibility.

Create layouts

Tactile maps are intended to be printed out so they can be explored through touch. Though there are different ways of creating tactile maps, a common way is to print it on swell touch paper using a standard laser printer. Then, the map is run through a device that is similar to a hot air ventilator, which heats the paper evenly. The carbon-based colors of the printer react with the paper to swell, creating raised features that make the map tactile. Darker colors, such as black, contain more carbon and result in a more pronounced tactile effect.

Note:

To learn more about how tactile maps are printed, as well as alternative mediums for creating a tactile map, see chapter 10 of Tactile Mapping: Cartography for People with Visual Impairments.

To prepare your map for printing, you'll create a layout. Similar to how you made sure your map was legible to people with visual impairments, your layout is designed to be legible too. Rather than create the layout from scratch, you'll download a layout file that has been prepared for you. This layout can be used not only for the Murrow Park tactile map, but for tactile maps for any area of interest.

Create a layout for the map

You'll download the layout file you'll use for the map and import it into your project.

Note:

This tutorial won't cover how to create a layout from scratch. To learn how to make a layout, try the series Design a layout in ArcGIS Pro.

1. Download the Tactile_layout.pagx file.
2. In ArcGIS Pro, on the ribbon, click the Insert tab. In the Project group, click New Layout.

   

3. At the bottom of the drop-down menu, click Import layout file.

   

   The file might not appear at first because you just downloaded it, so you'll refresh the window to make sure it does.

4. In the Import window, browse to the location where you downloaded the layout file. Click the Refresh button.

   

5. Double-click Tactile_layout.pagx.

   The layout is imported.

   

   The layout doesn't include your map. It has a scale bar with text in both Braille and print, a north arrow, and space for a title. Everything not strictly necessary has been removed from the map layout. The layout also has no legend; you'll learn more about how to create a legend for a tactile map later.

   The red color of the print text for the scale bar ensures the letters do not swell when the map is heated, as red ink contains little carbon.

   Note:

   If the Braille text does not appear correctly, make sure you downloaded and installed the Braille Dedicon basis 24pt NL6Dots v02 font at the beginning of the tutorial.

   Next, you'll add your map to the layout.

6. On the ribbon, in the Map Frames group, click Map Frame and choose Map (the one with your tactile map as the thumbnail).

   

7. On the layout, draw a box that matches the light gray box that covers most of the layout.

   The map frame is added to the layout.

   

   Tip:

   If you're not satisfied with the shape of your map frame, you can adjust it by dragging the handles on the map frame's sides and corners.

Add a title

Next, you'll add the map's title.

1. On the ribbon, in the Graphics and Text group, click Dynamic Text.

   

2. In the drop-down menu, scroll to the Layout section and click Title.

   

3. On the layout, draw a box in the empty space at the top of the layout.

   

4. Double-click the default title text.

   The Element pane appears with options to edit the text.

5. In the Element pane, under Text, delete the existing text and type Murrow Park (World Bank).

   

   The title is in print. You'll change it to Braille and make it larger.

6. Click Text Symbol.

   

7. Under Appearance, for Font Name, choose Braille Dedicon basis 24pt NL6Dots. For Size, type 24 pt.

   

   Note:

   The size of Braille is based on international standards and is always the same size. For more information, see Size and Spacing of Braille Characters by the Braille Authority of North America.

8. At the bottom of the Element pane, click Apply.

   On the layout, the text changes to Braille.

   

   You'll add another, smaller title in print for people without visual impairments.

9. On the ribbon, in the Graphics and Text group, click Dynamic Text. Under Layout, click Title.
10. On the layout, draw a small title in the empty space under the Braille title.

    

11. In the Element pane, for Text, delete the existing text and type Murrow Park (World Bank).

    You don't need to change the font or size, but you will change the text color to red so the print title is not raised when printed.

12. Click Text Symbol. For Color, choose Mars Red.

    Tip:

    To see the name of a color in the color picker, point to it.

    

13. Click Apply.

    The map now has a title in both Braille and print.

    

    The scale bar and north arrow don't require any adjustments. They were created to correspond to the map extent of 1:2,000. Because tactile symbols have a fixed size, it is recommended to use this extent for other tactile maps to maintain legibility. If you create a tactile map at a different extent, you must edit the scale bar text to match.

Create a layout for the legend

In tactile maps, the legend is provided on a separate page. This decision is due to the size characteristics of tactile symbols. To ensure the symbols are recognizable, they must always be the same size, so the legend must be relatively large.

You'll download a layout file with a standardized format for the legend.

1. Download the Tactile_legend.pagx file.
2. In ArcGIS Pro, on the ribbon, click the Insert tab. In the Project group, click New Layout.
3. At the bottom of the drop-down menu, click Import layout file.
4. In the Import window, browse to the location where you downloaded the layout file. Click the Refresh button and double-click Tactile_legend.pagx.

   The layout is imported.

   

   The legend contains all symbols included in the style file. Some of these symbols were not used in the Murrow Park tactile map, such as the symbols for forests and water. You could choose to delete these symbols from the legend if you preferred, but for this tutorial, you'll leave the legend unchanged.

5. Save the project.

   Your tactile map is finished and is ready to be printed. Printing a tactile map requires special swell touch paper and equipment, so you aren't expected to print the map as part of this tutorial.

   Note:

   If you do have the proper equipment to print a tactile map on swell touch paper, you can print the layout by clicking the Share tab on the ribbon. In the Output group, click Print Layout. In the Print Layout pane, choose parameters appropriate to your printer and click Print. Keep in mind that you must separately print the map layout and the legend layout.

In this tutorial, you learned the basics of creating a tactile map. You created an anchor point and symbolized features with standardized symbols designed for haptic perception. Then, you made several improvements to the map's legibility. Lastly, you created layouts for the map and legend. All of the decisions you made throughout the tutorial were for the purpose of ensuring the map would be accessible to people with visual impairments.

Using OpenStreetMap data from ArcGIS Living Atlas, you can follow the workflow in this tutorial to create a tactile map for nearly anywhere in the world. Depending on your area of interest, your map may include different types of features (such as water or public transit stops) and require different changes to improve its legibility. You're encouraged to try making a tactile map for an area local to you to help make spatial awareness more accessible to people with visual impairments.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• The Buildings, Grass, Points_of_Interest, and Roads feature classes contain information from OpenStreetMap Buildings for North America, Landuse Areas for North America, POIs for North America, and Highways for North America, which is made available under the Open Database License (ODbL). The Footpaths_Exported and Points_of_Interest_Improved feature classes were derived from the Roads and Points_of_Interest feature classes, respectively.
• The Tactile_Map_Styles, Tactile_layout, and Tactile_legend files were created by the tutorial author.
• The Braille Dedicon basis 24pt NL6Dots v02 font file was created by Dedicon and is used with permission.