Many visitors to large museums find it difficult to remain oriented after wandering through a few galleries. They often carry a map, but once they've lost a sense of their current position, the map is no longer useful for local way-finding and trip-planning. Touch Graphics' proposal for a new kind of museum guide combines cheap, disposable maps with discreet, fixed-position map-reader and display pedestals. A visitor places his translucent map onto the illuminated tray of the reader; the map includes a radio tag that allows the pedestal to "recognize" the visitor; once identified, the pedestal displays a large, bright "You are Here" marker, and shows a path from one's current position to a desired destination. Maps could be customized for each reader either before coming, or on-site at a simple kiosk in the museum lobby. Accessible information, including customized tactile graphic maps and large print maps, would be provided for visitors with special needs. This idea demonstrates principals of Universal Design, which teaches that information should be presented in multiple formats. It's a low-cost way to improve the usefulness of carry-maps, which museum visitors are already comfortable using, by adding changing content and user-centered orientation help.

The images shown here illustrate a proposal for an installation of a map/kiosk network at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The proposed system is not currently under consideration for installation at the Met, and these images, including the Met logo, were created by Touch Graphics, Inc. without consultation with staff at the Met.

A photo montage showing a map reader pedestal installed in a museum gallery. In our proposal, these pedestals, which would need to be plugged into a power receptacle, would be placed in each gallery and major public space. They could be accessed by any museum visitor, both those with and without a carry-map.

One of the kiosk pedestals. The unit includes an up-facing LCD panel inside a frame that has the capability of detecting a visitor's finger position. The visitor sees both the printing on the carryable map, and images displayed on the LCD panel, which shines through the map's translucent film. Images could include streaming media, and links to the institution's web site could be made, to allow for in-depth study of an artwork of special interest.

A sample print/video hybrid image as it would appear when a visitor places a carry-map onto the pedestal's up-facing display in the Greek and Roman Gallery at the Met.