
If your data was in a tabular format to start with, consider making it available to download. It’s the visual part that makes it inaccessible in most cases. We can start with what exactly makes a web map inaccessible in the first place. So how could this map be made more accessible? Data All it does is lets them know is that there is a map. That clearly doesn’t convey the meaning or purpose of this map to somebody using a screen reader.

When I got to the map with the screen reader, all the screen reader said was “MAP”. It was well designed and concise in how the data was presented. I found a visually beautiful map showing how climate change is predicted to affect the mean monthly max temperature in different parts of the world. (Full disclosure, I’m not that great at using a screen reader either). In writing this blog post, I started to familiarize myself more with how screen readers interact with web maps. By keeping web accessibility in mind and making it an intrinsic part of your application, everybody is going to benefit. Web maps can be a big source of frustration for users with disabilities because they rely so heavily on visuals, require some precise mouse movement, and can be a lot of information to take in all at once. It’s the answer to the question “Is everybody able to use and access your service when they need to?” There’s a wide range of disabilities with different levels of severity. The first and last letters of “accessibility” are preserved, replacing the remaining letters between with their sum total of 11.ĭigital accessibility is much more than just making your website or service screen readable. You may have heard of accessibility as being referred to as A11Y.
