Tangible Map: Designing and Assessing Spatial Information Retrieval Through a Tactile Interface.

This paper addresses the design, development and evaluation of an interactive Tangible Map as a way to collect, display, and provide various information about a public space (in this case, a university campus) for easy retrieval and access. Through its ability to (a) display multiple sets of information upon tactile inputs, and (b) encourage interactions through 3D features and visual stimuli, the Tangible Map acts as a bridge between abstract campus data (e.g. classes hours and locations, faculty offices, shuttle hours) and the physical spaces the data refers to. The Map’s effectiveness in easing access to information and its potential for encouraging data exploration, compared to existing mediums, is evaluated through a preliminary user study. Results suggest that the map’s 3D tangible features and tactile interactions can facilitate information retrieval and can support the exploration of abstract data.