Bocoup Proposes a Path to Accessible Web Maps

June 30, 2022

From Bocoup:

According to our static analysis of the HTTP Archive, 16% of web pages use maps and 22% of those have interactive geographic features. This outweighs the use of other incredibly common features, like the picture and video elements, or YouTube embeds. However, despite the popularity and ease of map making there are still barriers and frustrations. Geopolitical decisions inform borders which are drawn by technology companies. These coded borders lack context or narrative but represent sovereignty, for better or for worse. Without access to the tools used to create or change borders, map tiles, or projections, map users and makers do not have the ability to make maps meaningful for their lived experience. Through the Web Maps project, Bocoup engaged with the team at Natural Resources Canada to explore a pathway to fix this by centering accessibility and equity in map creation.

A worthy and ambitious effort to tame the sprawling mess of web mapping tools.

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This work by Matt Zagaja is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.