{"686517":{"#nid":"686517","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ph.D. Student Making Digital Maps That Blind People Can Hear","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMap region. Graphic clickable. Blank.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s usually the only information \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/brandonkeithbiggs.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBrandon Biggs\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E receives from digital maps.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiggs is a human-centered computing Ph.D. student in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing. He is almost totally blind due to Leber\u2019s Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a rare degenerative eye disorder affecting about one in 40,000 people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBased on his experience, Biggs argues that most digital maps aren\u2019t accessible to people who are blind. Even worse, he said, the needs of the blind are usually overlooked.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I started research on maps, I had never viewed a weather, campus, or building map, so I didn\u2019t realize the amount of information maps contain,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cHow do you represent shapes, orientation, and layout through audio and translate that into a geographic map?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo answer these questions, Biggs founded \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/xrnavigation.io\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EXRNavigation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a company focused on developing accessible digital tools. Its flagship product, Audiom, is a cross-sensory map that people can see and hear through text.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSighted people view about 300 maps per year, while blind people view fewer than one,\u201d he said. \u201cBlind people don\u2019t view maps; it\u2019s not part of their lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI want to ensure that for blind users, digital maps are no longer just \u2018blank.\u2019\u0026nbsp; They receive the information they need to know to navigate in this world and become more autonomous.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOrganizations that need to include accessible maps in their digital spaces can integrate Audiom into their website or app.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech recently became one such organization and used Audiom to introduce the first fully accessible digital campus map.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor \u003Cstrong\u003EBruce Walker\u003C\/strong\u003E advises Biggs in Walker\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/~walkerb\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESonification Lab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, which designs auditory displays for technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBrandon has the perfect and unique blend of technical skills, research savvy, innovativeness, lived experience, and never-stop attitude to tackle this problem while impacting and improving many lives,\u201d Walker said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDefining Accessibility\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiggs said most maps limit accessibility features to turn-by-turn directions, tables, or other kinds of alternative text that disregard spatial information. The ability to communicate spatial information distinguishes Audiom.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAccording to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), all non-text content \u2014 like maps \u2014 must include a text alternative with an equivalent purpose,\u201d Biggs said. \u201cBut what does \u2018equivalent purpose\u2019 mean for geographic maps?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe argue that every single map, regardless of what it\u2019s showing, communicates general spatialized information and relationships.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAudiom also prioritizes the information that\u2019s most important to blind users, including sidewalks and buildings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of information blind people just don\u2019t get on maps but desperately need,\u201d he said. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t care less about the roads. They might need the road name, but they really need the sidewalks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf a blind person made a map, they might not even add the roads. And then they would add in the location of doorways, a critical detail that sighted people completely leave out.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiggs\u2019s work is already gaining national recognition. XRNavigation was recently one of three companies selected by the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) Foundation for a 2025 Gaady Award, which honors work being done to make digital technologies more accessible.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPast and present winners of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gaad.foundation\/what-we-do\/gaadys\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGaady Awards \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003Erange from tech startups to major brands like T-Mobile.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiggs will accept the award during a banquet on Thursday in San Francisco.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBrandon Biggs, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is nearly blind, developed \u003Cstrong\u003EAudiom\u003C\/strong\u003E, a cross-sensory digital map that lets blind users navigate spatial information through audio. Biggs\u0027s tool, which Georgia Tech now uses for its campus map, emphasizes spatial relationships like sidewalks and buildings and gives organizations a way to integrate accessible, auditory maps into their own platforms.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is nearly blind has developed Audiom, a cross-sensory digital map that translates spatial and geographic information into audio so that blind users can \u201chear\u201d maps."}],"uid":"36530","created_gmt":"2025-11-18 19:26:48","changed_gmt":"2025-11-18 19:30:42","author":"Nathan Deen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678659":{"id":"678659","type":"image","title":"Brandon-Biggs_86A9112-copy_5.jpg","body":null,"created":"1763494016","gmt_created":"2025-11-18 19:26:56","changed":"1763494016","gmt_changed":"2025-11-18 19:26:56","alt":"Brandon Biggs","file":{"fid":"262718","name":"Brandon-Biggs_86A9112-copy_5.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/18\/Brandon-Biggs_86A9112-copy_5.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/18\/Brandon-Biggs_86A9112-copy_5.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":138423,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/18\/Brandon-Biggs_86A9112-copy_5.jpg?itok=lC8FCRD0"}}},"media_ids":["678659"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"360","name":"accessibility"},{"id":"172442","name":"Disabilites"},{"id":"47091","name":"maps"},{"id":"194036","name":"blindness"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}