Automatic Online Haptic Graph Construction

Just accessing graphs is a difficult task for blind and partially-sighted people let alone constructing graphs by themselves. By using multimodal Virtual Reality technologies, graphs rendered in a computer can be explored by blind people relatively easily. This has been validated in our research on multimodal data visualisation systems. In this paper we introduce a new development of a Web-based graph construction tool. People can access it using a standard Web browser. It can automatically generate three types of graphs: line graphs, bar charts and pie charts based on data entered by the user. The constructed graphs are presented to the user through visual, auditory and haptic means. A Logitech WingMan Force Feedback Mouse is used to convey the haptic information. Evaluations have been conducted to verify the usability of the system. Experiment participants have provided positive feedback on the tool.