Inclusive Cartography Seminar Series: Seminar 2
Seminar 2 – Brandon Biggs, Software Engineer at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, CEO at XR Navigation, and PhD Candidate at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Date: 11th December 2025 15:00 CET
Link: https://meet.google.com/dvj-qsqu-cbm
Abstract: This presentation will share methods for systematically assessing and designing complex digital spatial diagrams and maps that meet ADA accessibility standards. The strategies apply to a wide range of contexts, including municipal GIS data, campus layouts, building plans, and anatomical charts. Topics will include alternate text, full keyboard navigation, and adequate non-text contrast. In the past, accessibility could often be achieved by identifying a map’s “primary purpose” and providing it in text form. However, new research and technological developments have made this approach insufficient for compliance. The session will introduce techniques such as interactive alt text and comprehensive written descriptions, ensuring that information about distance, direction, shape, size, orientation, and overall layout of points, polygons, and lines is both accessible and easy to create. Participants will also learn how to enable full keyboard control of all features and meet a 3:1 contrast ratio. By the end, attendees will have a practical toolkit for assessing maps for ADA compliance and implementing accessible map design.
Speaker bio: Brandon Biggs is an entrepreneur, researcher, inclusive designer, developer, and life-long learner. He is the CEO of XR Navigation, an Engineer at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, Co-Founder and board treasurer at Sonja Biggs Educational Services Inc., and a PhD student at the Georgia institute of Technology. In 2016, he received his bachelors in music from California State University East Bay, in 2019 he received his Masters in Inclusive Design from the Ontario College of Art and Design University, and in 2021, began his PhD in Human Centered Computing from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is almost completely blind from Lebers Congenital Amaurosis (LCA). His projects and ventures center around building tools to solve some of the most difficult problems in the blindness field. He leverages his lived experience coupled with human centered inclusive design principles to create solutions that create lasting and sustainable impact. To achieve this goal, Brandon is half entrepreneur and half academic.