Ash K. Gilpin

Google Maps and its associated local search is a quick and easy means of locating businesses and obtaining directions. Most people who use it already seem to enjoy the graphical interface with its extremely reactive GUI. But when using spoken output, this visual richness can get in the way of quickly listening to the results of a maps query.

As an alternative, Google Maps also provides a simple to use a textual interface that serves up directions very efficiently when working with a screenreader or a Braille display. This alternative view into Google Maps is here, at the Textual Maps UI (http://maps.google.com/?output=html). It’s extremely useful for blind and visually impaired users, as well as an effective solution for those times when you’re at a non-graphical display and need to quickly look up a location.

Just type a simple English query of the form start address to end address and quickly get the information you’re looking for. Though Google added this option to enhance the accessibility of Google Maps for blind and low-vision users, perhaps others will find this alternative view a useful addition to their maps arsenal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 27th, 2006 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Technology, The Net, People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.