Governments are developing maps to share information on a variety of topics with the public, but there are necessary considerations to ensure these digital products are accessible for all users.
State and local governments are required by federal law to make digital products — including maps —usable for people with disabilities by April 2027 or April 2028 depending on population size. But they face litigation risks today if they are noncompliant.
The state of Minnesota has been focused on the accessibility of its online products and content for years. In 2019, Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) announced a significant effort to make maps accessible. MNIT has established a map accessibility resource center and made training modules available.
The state uses GIS mapping for a variety of purposes, including resource distribution, routing and information sharing, explained GIS Application Analyst Jason Ewert, who works for MNIT within the Pollution Control Agency (PCA). GIS maps play a big part in the state’s communications, he said.
The state has been building accessible maps for two primary reasons, per Ewert: to make content available to the broadest audience possible and to ensure content is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
When trying to create an accessible map, Ewert underlined the importance of first considering the intended message of the map.
“It’s a communication tool, first and foremost,” said Ewert, noting that a map without a focused message can easily become “overloaded” with data.
Designing a map with a concise message and well-structured content creates the foundation for making information consumable for users with different cognitive, visual and motor control abilities.
Color is another key feature for GIS teams to address when creating these resources. Officials should use colors with high contrast and test with accessibility checkers, per MNIT’s resource center. Because maps often leverage aerial photography as backgrounds, Ewert emphasized the importance of simplifying base maps so that symbology effectively meets those contrast requirements to be visible for all users.
Web maps are often not designed in a way that they can be effectively used by the blind and low-vision community, Ewert said.
“So, creating standards of tools and workflows and processes around how a web map works and what it could do and what could do for you is hugely important,” Ewert explained.
The state’s maps are filled with data and points of interest, but often, content is hidden behind a mouse click, Ewert noted; officials are focused on implementing keyboard access to help users surface that information.
Accessibility testing is done before going live with new products in the state, Ewert said. Forming an internal community of staff, he explained, to address accessibility questions and meet regularly to explore what is working and what challenges exist has been useful for this work. MNIT’s Office of Accessibility also offers support.
In some cases, AI technology can help government make products more accessible. For accessibility work, it’s critical to ensure AI models are using high-quality data. If they are doing so, AI technology can help developers quickly create examples to accelerate the work, Ewert said.
Officials monitor the web traffic for MNIT’s map accessibility resource center, which has revealed that other states, counties and organizations are visiting the page.
Other governments are also advancing accessible GIS products. Massachusetts, for example, has also publicized GIS accessibility guidance. At the local level, the city of Philadelphia overhauled its Disability Characteristics Map in 2023 to make the resource accessible.
Philadelphia’s map permanently impacted the city government by helping build support to make the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities a permanent fixture; that decision passed in a vote with significant support.
Accessible maps expand access to information, Ewert underlined: “The solutions that we’re coming up with now are going to open up new worlds — new spatial worlds — for a lot of our users.”
Julia Edinger is a senior staff writer for Government Technology. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Toledo and has since worked in publishing and media. She’s currently located in Ohio.
See More Stories by Julia Edinger
