The Geography Department of UVT participates in the National ICT Competition for amblyopic and blind students, during which it will present, for the first time, two educational products intended for amblyopic and blind students: General Tactile Geographical Atlas of Romania and Guided tours of Timisoara.
General Tactile Geographical Atlas of Romania will be presented on April 26, 2023, during the opening ceremony of the National ICT Competition for amblyopic and blind students, from 17 p.m., at the West University of Timișoara.
Although the technological resources exist for making tactile didactic materials for geography, their production often hits a conceptual barrier: 80% of what we perceive is visual and 80% of what we see is color. Therefore, designing a tactile map involves a whole strategy of eliminating details, of replacing color with types of lines and textures, of synthesis and generalization. The design of a tactile map must always find a balance between conveying as much information as possible through the General Tactile Geographic Atlas of Romania is a collection of tactile boards made on ZyTex A3 type microcapsule paper, modeled in relief using the ZyFuse thermoformer. It contains several maps placed in a logical construction, which aims to provide an overall understanding of our country's position in the world and to spatially present the relevant information about the physical-geographical and human geography elements specific to Romania. The cartographic representation was made keeping in mind the specific principles of creating tactile maps for the blind. Great care has been taken in the selection of map elements, generalization and tactile economy so that the map can tell a story without difficulty and without confusion. The application was validated in collaboration with the students and teacher Constantin Cristache from the Iris Special Technological High School in Timișoara, where all the materials were tested along the way.
The authors will provide representatives of all participating schools for the blind with a copy for testing and feedback. The atlas was created under the guidance of Dr. Alina Satmari, lecturer in the Department of Geography of the Western University of Timișoara, specialist in cartography and geovisualization, coordinator of several recent accessibility projects with and for the blind. The cartography was made by Nicoleta Ivăniș and Ionela Barbu, both students in the 3rd year of the Cartography Specialization, and the digital drawing elements were created by Ioana Satmari, a student of the CD Loga National College in Timișoara.
The second premiere offered by students and their mentors from UVT's Department of Geography at the National ICT Competition for amblyopic and blind students is represented by Guided tours of Timisoara for participants in the National ICT Competition for amblyopic and blind students, where approximately 50 middle and high school students qualified, representing all seven special schools in Romania. On this occasion, as part of the partnership between Iris Special Technological High School and the Department of Geography of UVT, together with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Timișoara, in collaboration with Timișoara City Tours, the Association for the Promotion of Timișoara and the Historical Reconstruction Association, two guided tours will be organized of the city for all participating students.
Guided tours are scheduled on April 27, from 15 p.m., departing from the Maria Theresia Bastion. Each tour lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes and ends near the Huniade Castle Tower. The organizers invited the media to accompany the group during the tour and join them at the end for a short feedback discussion with the participating students.
The brochure developed as support in tours is a tourist guide dedicated to blind people visiting Timișoara, with slightly embossed pages, using a special paper for tactile graphics. The brochure contains plans dedicated to the spatial evolution of the city, architectural elements specific to certain eras, comparative sketches of some facades or footprints on the ground for heritage buildings that attest to the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional evolution of Timișoara. The brochure was made by Ionela Barbu, a third-year student at the Cartography Specialization of the West University of Timișoara, and by Ioana Satmari, a XNUMXth grade student at CD Loga National College.
