In conversation with Dr. Josh Miele
Imagine a future where you can type in a zip code or post code and instantly feel under your fingers a simple, well-formatted, tactile street map enabling you to explore by touch the surrounding streets enhancing orientation and independence. Imagine tactile street maps that let you pann and zoom to build understanding of the surrounding area, your neighbourhood, or where you work or go to school. Imagine no longer.
Thanks to a unique collaboration between Dot and DR Josh Miele, tactile street maps are now coming to Dot Pad. You are invited to join us on this journey.
Ahead of our live webinar on Sep 14 2026, where you will learn how to get started with tactile street maps on Dot Pad, in this episode we connect with scientist, inventor, MacArthur Fellow, and Principal Accessibility Researcher at Amazon, Dr. Josh Miele. Josh breaks down his pioneering work on the Tactile Map Automated Production system (TMAP), sharing his lifelong love for maps, his journey through accessibility design, and why tactile spatial information is critical for blind independence.
Episode Highlights
* Josh discusses his undergraduate years, interning at NASA (Goddard Space Flight Center) on the Mars Observer project. We hear how Josh's career pivoted to accessibility when he worked on one of the first GUI screen readers, Outspoken, and shifted his focus toward designing tools by blind people, for blind people.
* We learn about the genesis of TMAP (Tactile Map Automated Production) at Smith-Kettlewell in 2003. A project to solve the challenge of needing a sighted person to custom-craft every tactile street map.
* Josh explains why Tactile Maps Matter, why turn-by-turn audio routing isn't enough. Tactile maps provide spatial context, high-level overviews, and allowing users to build mental/cognitive models of an area from our homes before venturing out.
* We unpack the Design Philosophy Behind TMAP, drawing design inspiration from tactile cartographers and decades of hands-on experience, optimizing map layouts and labelling decisions to ensure clarity and readability.
* Finally you will hear about the latest leg of the journey as we take TMAP from a hardcopy paper-based experience to rendering tactile street maps on refreshable tactile displays.
Links to Further Resources
* Try TMAP on Dot Pad
https://touchout.org/tmap/
* Get hardcopy tactile maps via the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
https://madlabdesign.org/tmap/
* Book: Connecting Dots: A Blind Life by Dr. Josh Miele.
https://mielelab.com/connecting-dots/
* Discover the Dot Pad X tactile display
https://www.dotincorp.com/en/product/dotpadx
* Visit the Dot Blog and subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to hear about how to register for Dot webinars including Navigating the World with Dot Pad and TMAP on Sep 14 2026.
https://blog.dotincorp.com/
Braille Survey
You are also invited to take part in the Global Braille Literacy Campaign survey from WBU and ICEVI. The survey, sponsored by Dot and partners, explores the relevance, use, challenges, and benefits of braille literacy worldwide. You can find the survey here:
http://tiny.cc/braillesurvey