The concept of using computers to facilitate access to 2D information by blind people was pioneered by Dr. Donald Parkes, University of Newcastle, Australia, with the Nomad tablet. The Nomad is a touch-sensitive digitizing pad with a built-in voice synthesizer. It is attached to a computer through a standard serial port connection. A tactile picture is mounted on the Nomad pad, and information about various portions of the picture is contained in an electronic file in the computer. A user presses on some part of the picture, and information about that region is sent from the computer to be spoken by the speech synthesizer on the Nomad.
The Nomad is currently being sold in the US by the American Printing House for the Blind. They also sell Nomad pictures with the accompanying computer files that they have made to illustrate several subjects studied by blind children. Users can prepare their own pictures by any method and program in the information using software tools supplied with the Nomad. Anybody, sighted or blind, who can use a computer can prepare these computer maps.
Dr. Parkes has recently introduced two new computer programs that greatly extend the usefulness of the digitizing pad. AudioCAD is a computer graphics design program usable by both blind and sighted users. Blind users can design some things using voice and other audio information, but AudioCAD is most useful when used with the Nomad or other digitizing pads. The initial version of AudioCAD supports the Nomad and the Edmark TouchWindow. The TouchWindow is available from commercial computer hardware vendors and dealers who sell AudioCAD.
The second new program from Dr. Parkes is AudioPIX. This program allows blind or sighted users to construct computer files identifying various objects on tactile pictures mounted on either the Nomad or other supported digitizing pads. AudioCAD and AudioPIX are sold by Repro-Tronics and its dealers.