Banca de DEFESA: TAINÁ MOREIRA DA SILVA

Geotechnologies and Tactile Cartography: Assessment and development of tactile maps for the UFRRJ Botanical Garden

Tactile Cartography; Botanical Garden; Teaching resource; Visually Impaired; Accessibility

The use of Geotechnologies has become common in our daily lives, whether for location to portray a phenomenon or simply to learn more about the space we live in. However, in Brazil, there are still few cartographic representations that can cover smaller scales and are accessible to people with visual impairments. The Botanical Garden of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (JB-UFRRJ), is a space where students, employees and residents of Seropédica use to stroll, relax and learn a little more about the flora present on the campus, in addition to being a space leisure, is also intended for Environmental Education. This research constructed a tactile map of the UFRRJ Botanical Garden, in addition to tactile representations of the most important points of this place, in order to portray its landscape. By producing these materials, the number of tactile representations increases and the possibility of reaching more and more spaces for the inclusion of people with visual impairments. The methodology used was Didactic Engineering, which is a qualitative approach, through research into possible materials that can be used in the construction of tactile materials. With the research carried out, the proposed materials were constructed through the use of microcapsulated paper (swell paper), which, when heated by a fusing machine, has its alcohol microparticles, in contact with black ink, expanded, becoming in high relief. This work is justified by the need for more tactile representations of the spaces in which we live, and the inclusion of people with visual impairments, in addition to bringing accessibility to a space used by various audiences at UFRRJ, whose main objective is Environmental Education. Finally, the results produced will be made available to the UFRRJ Botanical Garden: two tactile maps of the most prominent points in the place and also other tactile representations of its landscape.