Purpose of map
Map design should fit its intended purpose, and ought to start with an investigation of need.
- Who wants it? Has the map been requested by a visually impaired person, or has someone else decided to commission a tactile map of an area? If it is the latter then a designer must discover what visually impaired people, preferably local to the site, want to know about a place; this may not be what the commissioning agent thinks they want to know.
- Why do they want it? Is the map to be used for independent travel round a site? Is it to represent a route or to give an overall ‘picture of a place? Is it to set a place in context with it surroundings? It may be necessary to design more than one map to convey all the information needed.
- How do they want to use it? Will it be used by individuals with, or without, guides? Is it intended as an aid to accompany a group activity, and if so how will that activity be organised?
- Where do they want to use it? Should it be portable or will it always be used in the same place? Will it be used indoors or outdoors?
- When do they want to use it? Before, during or after visiting the place represented?
Answers to these questions will determine the final form of the map and suggest whether it is to be carried round or fixed in one place.