NEW TOOL FOR THE BLIND - Students in a software engineering class at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with the help of their professor, have developed a tool that
will enable the blind and visually impaired to read maps. The Blind Audio Tactile Mapping
System (BATS) uses a trackball to move a cursor around on a map. As the cursor passes
over different parts of the map, the system plays audio information so the user can "read"
the map. Names of places on the map are pronounced by a voice synthesizer. When the
cursor goes over water, the user hears the sound of crashing waves; over land, the user
hears horses galloping. The professor teaching the class in which the tool was developed
said it could become an open-source application, and it can be downloaded now from the
project's site. See: http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/assist/bats/ (Wired News, 25 Sept 02)