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Oct 22, 2012

CIDM ref. #4744435

AANDC Geomatics Background and Strategy for Accessible Web Mapping Applications

Geomatics Services

Business Decision Support Directorate

Information Management Branch, AANDC

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Presentation Contents

• Government of Canada Internet Standards History (Very Brief)

• New CLF Standards: Accessibility and Usability

• Web Accessibility: Why WCAG?

• WCAG – Brief Overview

• WCAG – Elements that apply to Cartography

• Testing Accessibility

• AANDC Accessibility Background

• AANDC Accessibility Plan (Geomatics Portion)

• AANDC Projections: What’s working and What’s Not Working

• Demonstration

• Questions

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Government of Canada Internet Standards History

• May 2000 - Treasury Board ministers approved the original Common Look and

Feel (CLF) standards and guidelines, to be implemented by December 31,

2002.

• January 2007 – CLF 2.0 came into effect, for implementation by December 31,

2008.

• In 2011-12, instead of releasing a comprehensive “CLF 3.0”, TBS indicated

that it would be replacing the 4 parts of the CLF 2.0 standards with 4 new

separate standards:

– Accessibility

– Usability

– Interoperability

– E-mail

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New CLF Standards: Accessibility and Usability

• Standard on Web Accessibility came into effect August 1, 2011

– Replaces Part 2 of the Common Look and Feel 2.0 Standards for the Internet

(Standard on the Accessibility, Interoperability and Usability of Web Sites).

– “The objective of this standard is to ensure a high level of Web accessibility is applied

uniformly across Government of Canada Web sites.”

• Standard on Web Usability came into effect September 28, 2011

– Replaces Part 1: Standard on Web Addresses and Part 3: Standard on Common Web

Page Formats of the Common Look and Feel 2.0 Standards for the Internet.

– “This standard mandates a basic structure for Government of Canada Web page

layout and design, which makes it easier to find and utilize information and services on

Government of Canada Web sites.”

– For layout and design example visit www.tc.gc.ca ).

This presentation will focus on Accessibility

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Web Accessibility - Why WCAG?

• On November 29, 2010, the Federal Court rendered its decision on the Jodhan

case concerning the accessibility of Government of Canada (GC) Websites for

persons with visual disabilities.

• The order of the Court requires that departments make their Websites

accessible to the visually impaired and exempts archived government Website

information from that requirement. Further, the presiding judge recommended a

shift to the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

(WCAG) 2.0, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

• The GoC Standard on Web Accessibility dictates that Government of Canada

organizations are responsible for “ensuring each Web page meets all WCAG

2.0 conformance requirements:”.

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Web Accessibility: What it Applies to

• Applies to all Web pages that are public facing; that the department is

accountable for; and that are provided through Government of Canada Web

sites.

– Web pages refer to static and dynamic Web pages and Web applications.

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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA

• Perceivable

– Provide text alternatives for non-text content.

– Provide captions and alternatives for audio and video content.

– Make content adaptable; and make it available to assistive technologies.

– Use sufficient contrast to make things easy to see and hear.

• Operable

– Make all functionality keyboard accessible.

– Give users enough time to read and use content.

– Do not use content that causes seizures.

– Help users navigate and find content.

• Understandable

– Make text readable and understandable.

– Make content appear and operate in predictable ways.

– Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

• Robust

– Maximize compatibility with current and future technologies

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Content Must be Adaptable and Available to Assistive Technologies

•Offer information in multiple formats

• Offer a text-based version of the “business” data you are loading into the map

• Allow your users to download it themselves

• Display it in charts, tables, and graphs

• Consider having the most accessible version of your site as the first format encountered by a visitor

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Cartography Must Use Sufficient Contrast

• Cartography must account for:

– Colour blindness

– Weak vision

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Functionality Must be Keyboard Accessible

• Web mapping application must not rely solely on the mouse for access to any feature or information

– Map Tips

– Point Selection

– Map Navigation

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Testing Web Accessibility: Web Browsers

Recommended in Guidance on Implementing the Standard on Web Accessibility:

http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=23844&section=text#sec6.3

• Test Web pages (of Web sites including Web applications) against the

"Browser Test Baseline" as defined by YUI Graded Browser Support:

http://yuilibrary.com/yui/docs/tutorials/gbs/

• These browsers make up the top 95% of the Web browsers used by individuals

that access the Internet. They are employed by the vast majority of users, so

testing against these browsers will help ensure that Web pages (of Web sites

including Web applications) work correctly for users.

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AANDC Geomatics Services – Accessibility Background

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• Review began in earnest at AANDC during December 2011 with a focus on

assessing existing departmental geo-map functional requirements and the

capabilities of Esri various API’s (Application Programming Interfaces)

• Considered Departmental IT development standards and skill sets within the

Geomatics and Core Application Development Groups

• Led to an initial focus on Esri API for MS Silverlight in March 2012

• Prototype was built using the ArcGIS API for Silverlight with functions similar to

the First Nations Interactive Map application (built using the Esri API for Flex)

with the goal of making it WCAG 2.0 compliant

• A progressive analysis from the spring of 2012 to the present resulted in a decision to proceed with ESRI JavaScript API (thereby ruling out the use of Silverlight)

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AANDC Accessibility Plan

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• Work with other Government Departments

• AANDC Geomatics Services holds the chair position on the Inter-Agency Committee on Geomatics (IACG) Sub Group on Accessibility

• Meet once per month to compare approaches and determine commonalities.

• Standardize on the most effective development tools and platforms

• AANDC has standardized on ESRI for both desktop applications and Internet Servers

• Upgrading to ArcGIS 10.1

• Adopting ESRI JavaScript API for development of WCAG compliant Map Applications

• Plan all Projects for Accessibility

• AANDC has gradually brought interactive maps into full WCAG Compliance

• Visit the AANDC Virtual Map Room for a demonstration

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Current AANDC Web Map Projection: What’s Working

• Canada Lambert Conic Conform (LCC) - Best for regions predominantly east-west in extent and located in the middle north or south latitudes. Good for Large area in Canada.

• LCC portrays shape more accurately than area

• Small geographic areas could use UTM projection as it is better for linear measurements

• Satellite imagery mosaic of North which uses a modified Canada Lambert Conic projection (Cached data) need GIS layers to follow same for dynamic overlay

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Current AANDC Web Map Projection:Canada Lambert Conformal Conic (LCC) –Nad 1983

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Current AANDC Web Map Projection: What’s Not Working

• Canada wide web map application (* Using Lambert Conformal Conic

• NAD 1983) with ability to zoom in to Program based data in the North with multiple locations..i.e. Beaufort Sea, High Arctic, eastern Arctic

• How to handle multiple projections in same application ?

• Multiple web map projections for many localized program data.. Challenges with basemap Cached data.. Time and Size to generate and store..

• Using satellite maps in background.. with Cached data.. When overlaying vector business data (dynamic), need to consider the imagery layer projection

• Lambert (LCC) does not work well in the high arctic, also not as good at large scale (zoomed close) and does not reflect area as well (albers equal area is probably better or even NAD 84 UTM zones)

• Geographic: Google Maps.. Distortion of size, shape for North..

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Current AANDC Web Map Projection: What’s Not Working

Major Distortion for the North

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Demonstrations

• First Nations Profiles Interactive Map

• Note: map contrast and HTML version as a separate HTML application.

http://fnpim-cippn.inac-ainc.gc.ca/index-fra.asp

• Federal/Provincial/Territorial Agreements Interactive Map

• Note: map contrast and HTML version as a static map in which the user may tab

through all the business layer data.

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/Map/fpta/fpta-eng.asp

• Petroleum and Environmental management Tool

• Note: Projection suitable for the North

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100036632/1100100036636

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Questions

• What projection does AANDC Geomatics Services use for their Internet

Applications?

• General: Lambert Conformal Conic, Standard Parallels 50 degrees N and

70 degrees North, Central Meridian -96

• Beaufort Sea: Albers, Standard Parallels 61.6666667 and 68.0, Central

Meridian: -132.5