Essential practices for ensuring accessibility

Maptionnaire is committed to providing an inclusive engagement platform that is available to the widest possible audience. Our platform is built to adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and 2.2 Level AA, the internationally recognized benchmark for digital inclusion.

Following these standards ensures that our platform helps our customers meet or exceed global legal requirements, including the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In particular, our adherence to WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA aligns with the 2024 ADA Title II Final Rule, which mandates these technical standards for digital services. You can read more about this topic in this article: Accessibility

Understanding the "mapping gap" and equivalent facilitation

While Maptionnaire ensures that all text, buttons, and navigation elements are accessible, interactive maps are visual, so they are harder to make accessible than text, buttons, and navigation. Maptionnaire handles most of this for you. Respondents can answer map questions with a keyboard or a screen reader, without a mouse or a touchscreen, and you don't need to set anything up for it.

 The sections below explain what each map question type gives respondents automatically, and what you can do as an author to improve it further.

What Maptionnaire provides automatically

These features are built into every survey:

•  A labelled, focusable map. The map has an accessible name, can be reached with the Tab key, and shows a clear focus outline. Map buttons such as zoom, starting location, and show location have spoken names and visible keyboard focus.
• Keyboard map navigation. Arrow keys move the map and + and – zoom in and out.
• Spoken instructions and feedback. When a respondent starts answering a map question, the instructions for that question type are shown in the drawing panel and read aloud. Screen readers also announce each step, for example a point being placed or a line being finished.
• Hidden until needed. The keyboard-only alternatives described below appear only when someone reaches them with the Tab key. Mouse and touch users see the survey exactly as you designed it.

Place a point

Respondents can place a point in two ways without a mouse:

1.  Search for an address. A Search for address option appears next to the question. The respondent types an address, chooses a result, and the point is saved as a normal map answer. Any follow-up
    questions in the popup open as usual. This also works in budgeting questions where respondents place points.
2. Use the keyboard on the map. The respondent moves the map with the arrow keys so that the location is at the centre, then presses Enter to place the point. Escape cancels.

Draw a line or an area

Lines and areas can also be drawn with the keyboard. The respondent moves the map so that each point they want is at the centre:

This works well for respondents who can see the map but can't use a mouse. If line or area answers are central to your project, you may want to give visually impaired respondents another way to answer:

•  A parallel open question. Add an Open question directly after the map question, for example: "If you can't draw on the map, describe the route here (e.g. street names or places it passes)."
• Branching (for surveys with many drawing questions). Use Branching logic to create a dedicated alternative path for users with assistive technology.

The questions are only half of it. Respondents also need to understand the map layers you show them. This is especially true for people with colour vision deficiencies, low vision, or small phone screens.

•  Don't rely on colour alone. If areas, categories, or statuses (e.g. "planned" vs. "under construction") differ only by colour, some respondents won't be able to tell them apart. Pair colour with something else: different line styles (solid / dashed), different icons, or text labels on the map.
• Add borders between adjacent regions. Neighbouring areas filled with similar colours blend together. A clear outline in a contrasting colour (e.g. white or dark grey) separates them.
• Use colourblind-safe palettes. Avoid combinations of red and green, and of blue and purple.
• Check the map in grayscale. Take a screenshot of your map and convert it to grayscale, or use a colour-blindness simulator. If you can still tell all the features apart, so can most of your respondents.
• Make features and labels contrast with the background map. Pale features on a pale background map are hard to see. Choose a background map that suits your data, or strengthen feature colours and outlines.
• Show feature labels on the map where it helps, and use the same names in the legend.
   

Check that your survey and pages are accessible: