Student inspires map for blind

By Brandee A. Thomas

The (Gainesville) Times

GAINESVILLE — Efren Chavez was looking for an easy A when he took geology this semester.

Enlarge photo

Sara Guevara, AP Efren Chavez (right) leads fellow Gainesville State student Sam Justus around a topographical map.

"I chose geology because I thought it would be easier than chemistry," said Chavez, a 20-year-old business administration major at Gainesville State College.

"I thought we were just going to be learning about a bunch of rocks and minerals."

That was partially true. The course also required him to read maps. His easy A had just become difficult.

Chavez can't read a map. He can't even see a map.

He lost his sight when he was 9, a result of detached retinas.

"Part of the geography and geology classes at GSC involve reading and interpreting topographic maps. These are two-dimensional maps that use various symbols and lines to depict elevation and other geographic features," said Chris Semerjian, Gainesville State associate professor of geography.

Ordinarily, visually impaired students would have been referred to a three-dimensional model to use, but Chavez didn't want to be singled out. He wanted to learn in the same manner as his peers.

"This was the first time that we've been given the challenge of how to teach a visually impaired student to read a flat map on a piece of paper," Semerjian said.

With assistance from Chavez, staff member Carol Kraemer developed a unique paper map that allows him to "read" it. To those with sight, aside from the raised blue and green lines indicating roads and rivers, the map appears to be blank.

"We made something he could feel, instead of see," said Kraemer, a Gainesville State geospatial technology research associate.

To create the map, Kraemer made a mirror image of a digital map, which she then enlarged and printed.

"I made a mirror image because we needed to be able to see the lines as he would, so that we could trace them with the graphic tactile tools," Kraemer said.

"Those tools create texture on the other side, so he can feel the features of the map."

Chavez's fingers glide over the dots, dashes and ridges on the paper. He easily identifies roads and rivers, while differentiating between the incline and decline of a mountain. He picks up on subtle changes that his sighted-counterparts miss.

"I put on a blindfold and tried to pick things out, but my hands didn't see as well as my eyes did," said Derek Robinson, a Gainesville State environmental science major, who helped create the map.

"I'm really impressed the way he has picked all of this up. Our sight sometimes gets in the way of our learning, but he doesn't have that issue.

"It's a different way of learning, but we're learning the same thing."

Recently, the Geospatial Alliance hosted Geographic Information Systems Day, at Gainesville State. During the event, GIS users shared real-world applications for the multidimensional technology.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, GIS "is a computer system capable of capturing, storing, analyzing, and displaying data identified according to location."

With GIS technology, users can create multilayered maps — very much like the paper maps that Chavez uses. During GIS Day, Chavez showed visitors how to "read" his maps.

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