World's first atlas for the blind made in India

Using maps comes so very naturally to people with sight, but for the blind, this is virtually impossible.

India designs world's first Braille atlas

Well, that has now changed with the world's first atlas for the blind released by the Department of Science and Technology. Its a Braille Atlas, a world first! The map has been specially designed for the blind, and can be felt rather than seen. The sense of touch has been highly magnified so people who are blind or low vision can experience it properly. The 84-page Braille atlas is in black-and-white and made on oversized A-3 size paper so that all the information could be easily fitted in.

Braille atlas will be distributed free to blind schools

The atlas has been prepared in English, Bengali, Gujarati and Telugu. 500 copies of the braille atlas have been printed so far and these will be given free of cost to blind schools in India. The atlas has 20 maps on different themes like physical, socio-economic, river system, crops pattern, natural vegetation, cultural, metropolitan areas, roads and railways, and crops.