Tactile SVG — Tactile Maps for the Blind: Swell Paper, Braille, ISO 17049

2026-06-1410 min read

tactileSVGaccessibilityBrailleSwell-PaperISO-17049

Export formats: TACTILE-SVG

Tactile SVG is an SVG document specifically prepared for printing as a raised tactile map accessible to blind and visually impaired people. Technically it is regular W3C SVG: the same <path>, <g>, <text> elements. The principal difference is in the approach to geometry, font, and texture. Road contours are thickened to a tactilely distinguishable width (minimum 1.5 mm), buildings are turned into simple geometric forms with textured fills, text labels are typeset in Braille fonts (Brailleshape, BRL-Sans, Marburg Medium) at the standard 2.5 mm dot size. Printing happens on special microcapsule paper called Swell Paper: black areas of the SVG after passing through a thermal processor (PIAF or Swell Form Machine) swell and become raised by 1–2 mm. A user with a screen reader and fingers gains access to geographic information unreachable through standard maps.

Map generation of Moscow city center — Moscow center, 200×200 m fragment. The tactile-SVG version of this map contains only road contours 2 mm wide and buildings as simple rectangles with textures — extra detail is undetectable by fingers.

Context: inclusive cartography

According to WHO 2024 data, around 285 million people worldwide live with significant vision impairments, of whom 43 million are fully blind. In Russia, according to All-Russian Association of the Blind statistics, there are about 218 thousand members and around 800 thousand blind people overall. Access to geographic information has historically been limited: relief maps on hard plastic substrates were expensive, individually made, rarely updated. The digital revolution in inclusive cartography began around 2010 with affordable microcapsule papers and thermal processors.

The modern tactile-map production workflow is a four-stage chain: prepare SVG with tactile constraints in mind → print on Swell Paper with a laser printer (toner must remain on paper) → run through a thermal processor (Swell Form Machine, PIAF by ViewPlus) → receive the tactile map in hand. The cost of one A4 map is about 150–300 rubles (paper + energy), production time 5–10 minutes per unit.

A principal Swell Paper feature: it swells only where black toner exists. Light gray, blue, any color except black remains flat. This means SVG preparation requires a mental switch: "everything that should be raised is black, everything else is invisible". Color in the usual sense doesn't exist.

Standards and regulation

ISO 17049:2013 "Accessible design — Application of braille on signage, equipment and appliances" is the main international standard for Braille font application. It fixes geometric parameters: Braille dot diameter 1.5 mm, height above surface 0.5 mm, inter-dot distance 2.5 mm, inter-character 6.0 mm, inter-line 10.0 mm. These parameters matter for SVG preparation: Braille text must match these sizes at real print scale.

ETSI EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021) is the European technical standard "Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services". Applies within the EU Accessibility Act (EAA) from 2025. All public-sector digital services in the EU are required to comply. The standard references WCAG 2.1 for web content and ISO 9241-171 for UI. Tactile maps are part of inclusive digital space, and providing them for public places (metro, museums, libraries) falls under the EAA.

GOST R 51671-2020 "Communication and information aids accessible to people with disabilities" is the Russian standard, largely harmonized with ISO 17049. Regulates tactile markings for visually impaired people in public spaces. Tactile maps are not named directly but indirectly reference ISO 17049 for Braille.

WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is W3C's recommendation for accessible web content. A tactile map on a website is not SVG for browser render but a downloadable print file, so WCAG applies indirectly via criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content requires alternative description).

What's inside tactile-SVG: four principles

Principle 1. Simplified geometry. A finger distinguishes details from 1 mm. Anything smaller blurs into illegible mass. This means detailed buildings with balconies and columns in tactile-SVG become simple rectangles. Roads with divider strips — into single 2 mm lines. Green massifs — into textured patches without distinguishing individual trees. At the SVG level: remove subpaths inside <path>, increase stroke-width to 1.5–3 mm at real print scale.

Principle 2. Texture fills. A tactile map doesn't distinguish colors but distinguishes texture patterns. Each object type gets its texture: parks — fine dots 0.5 mm at 1 mm spacing; water — parallel wavy lines with 2 mm step; buildings — uniform smooth surface (or diagonal hatching); residential development differs from industrial by rarer hatching. At SVG level these are <pattern> elements filling <path fill="url(#waterPattern)">.

Principle 3. Braille labels. Street names and POIs are typeset in Braille. This requires a special font (e.g. Brailleshape, Marburg Medium, or open Braille Sans), strict standard 2.5 mm dot size. Braille doesn't scale: shrinking it is not allowed, enlarging is also pointless — fingers won't distinguish anything but standard size. In SVG: <text font-family="Marburg Medium" font-size="2.5mm">Nevsky Avenue</text> — here the text must actually be in Braille six-dot system.

Principle 4. Contour outlining. All main objects are outlined with a black contour at least 0.8 mm thick — so boundaries are tactilely traceable. A building without a contour blurs with empty space; outlining gives the finger a clear boundary. In SVG: <rect ... stroke="black" stroke-width="0.8mm" fill="url(#buildingPattern)">.

Tactile SVG pipeline: print to Swell Paper to heat processor to reader

Who needs tactile maps: five scenarios

Special school for the blind. Geography textbooks for vision-impaired children. Regular replacement of outdated atlases, tactile map printing on a school-year plan. Hometown map, world map, natural-zones map — primary topics. One teacher prepares SVG masters, a rehabilitation organization print center produces the run.

Library for the blind. Russian State Library for the Blind in Moscow, regional VOS libraries. Tactile maps are part of the collection alongside Braille books and audio recordings. Maps of historic sites, walking routes, public transport schemes.

Museum with an inclusion program. A historic estate or city museum includes a tactile territory map in its exposition, accessible to blind visitors. The map sits next to the regular visual map, beside an audio guide with descriptions. The Hermitage, Tretyakov Gallery, Solovetsky Monastery Museum — examples of museums with similar solutions.

Urban planner with inclusive expertise. An architect-planner preparing a park or square renovation project. A tactile map allows feedback from blind community representatives through touching planned routes. Part of universal-design process.

Indoor wayfinding designer. A designer of airport, station, mall navigation schemes. Tactile subway maps, building plans, beside elevators and information desks — standard for EU airports and major Russian hubs.

Software for tactile-SVG: five programs

Inkscape. Free. The main universal editor for tactile-SVG preparation. Supports <pattern> for textures, Braille font imports, layer work. The "Brailleshape" extension adds text-to-Braille-glyphs conversion in one click. inkscape.org

Swell Form Machine (American Thermoform). Not software but a specialized thermal processor for tactile graphics production. Sold in US and Europe; the Swell Pegasus model is about $1500. Accepts A4/Letter microcapsule paper, heats to 100–110°C, swells black areas. americanthermoform.com

PIAF (Picture in a Flash) by ViewPlus. Analog of Swell Form Machine from ViewPlus Technologies. More compact, convenient for libraries and schools. Price about $2200. viewplus.com/product/piaf

ViewPlus Tiger. Tiger Pro / Tiger Embosser Braille printers are an alternative path without Swell Paper: prints Braille dots and tactile graphics directly on regular paper via embossing head. Price $5000–$15000. Tactile graphic quality is worse than Swell but no consumables required. viewplus.com/embossers

TactileView. Paid specialized tactile-graphics design software from Dutch firm Dedicon. Interface much friendlier than Inkscape for non-professional designers: a library of ready-made symbols and Braille blocks, real-time minimum-tactile-distance checks. Price about €400 one-time. tactileview.com

Map generation of Rome city center — Rome center, 200×200 m. In the tactile variant only main arteries, the square, and a couple of key landmarks remain — fingers can't distinguish more.

Pitfalls and tips

Minimum road width — 1.5–2 mm. On a detailed OSM map roads are often drawn with width proportional to scale. For tactile maps this auto-scaling must be disabled: a road must have width strictly ≥1.5 mm at real print scale, otherwise fingers won't distinguish a separate street.

Minimum object spacing — 3 mm. If two buildings on the source map are 1 mm apart, on the tactile map they must either be merged into one block or separated by empty space 3 mm wide. Otherwise the finger perceives them as one object.

Braille does not scale. Standard Braille dot size is 2.5 mm. Halving makes text unreadable (not a question of effort, it's tactile physiology). Enlarging also doesn't work: fingers are accustomed to a strict size. Solution: place only short labels (1–2 words) on the tactile map, longer ones in an accompanying audio recording.

High-contrast color in the source. Although tactile paper doesn't distinguish colors, designers often want the source SVG to look good in visual form too (for accompanying material). Solution: make 100% black elements as fill="#000000" stroke="#000000", use a separate colored-palette SVG for the visual part and a final monochrome conversion.

Testing with end users. A finished tactile map must be tested with blind users before mass production. What looks logical visually is not always clear by touch. The local VOS organization or a special school will gladly help with testing.

Copyright and updates. OSM data are under the ODbL license — usable for tactile maps commercially. When publishing, include attribution: "© OpenStreetMap contributors". Update tactile maps every 1–2 years: urban environment changes, a 2018 tactile map is outdated by 2025.

Layer separation for production. In SVG put tactile elements and visual cues into separate layers. At final export to printer hide all "decorative" layers, keep only what should physically swell. This separation is critical for batch production of dozens of maps.

How to get tactile-SVG via osm2cdr.ru

osm2cdr.ru supports Tactile SVG export with a special "Tactile" cartographic style: simplified geometry, thick contours, textured fills, Braille label support in label zones. Step 1: on osm2cdr.ru choose Tactile SVG format. Step 2: draw a small area — 100–300 m is recommended (a quarter or square), because on A4 at printing this fits at the right scale. Step 3: choose detail level 2 out of 6 — already simplified geometry. Step 4: run export.

After download .svg: step 5: open in Inkscape, check minimum distances, manually clean up if needed. Step 6: load A4 Swell Paper into a regular laser printer (important: only laser, not inkjet, because inkjet inks don't give enough toner for the heater). Step 7: print the SVG via any PDF converter. Step 8: run the sheet through a Swell Form Machine or PIAF (about 30 seconds). The output — a tactile map.

Alternative: if you don't have your own thermal processor, contact a VOS rehabilitation center or special school — they often provide this service, around 200–500 rubles per A4 sheet.

Sources

ISO 17049:2013 "Accessible design — Application of braille on signage, equipment and appliances" — iso.org/standard/58087.html
ETSI EN 301 549 V3.2.1, Accessibility requirements for ICT products — etsi.org/standards/en-301-549
GOST R 51671-2020, Russian accessibility standard — gostinfo.ru
ViewPlus Technologies, PIAF technical specification — viewplus.com
American Thermoform, Swell Form Machine documentation — americanthermoform.com
Dedicon, TactileView user manual — tactileview.com/learn
WHO, World Report on Vision 2024 — who.int/publications
All-Russian Association of the Blind, statistics — vos.org.ru