More than 140 years afterLouis Brailleinvented the Braille indication organisation , Seiichi Miyake came up with a unlike system based on touch that allows visually impair people to voyage public space . Today , tactile pavement is used by major city and transport armed service around the existence . Miyake was so influential that he ’s the subject of theGoogle Doodlefor March 18 , the52nd anniversaryof tactile pave ’s debut .
The Japanese inventor design the influential system with a specific person in mind . His friend was losing his visual sense , so in 1965 , Miyake used his own money to build particular MAT with raised shapes that lead unsighted and visually impaired people away from danger andtoward safety . Pavement with round bumps was mean to signal nearby danger , such as a street crossing or the bound of a train chopine , while a stretchiness of pavement with square bar was meant to manoeuver them to safe areas . The tactile pattern allow pedestrians to detect the features with canes , guide dogs , or their substructure .
Originally called Tenji blocks , the tactile paving was first installed outside the Okayama School for the Blind in Okayama , Japan in 1967 . They rapidly spread to larger city , like Tokyo and Osaka , and within a ten , Miyake ’s system was mandatory in all Japanese rail stations .
Seiichi Miyake died in 1982 at eld 56 , but the popularity of his invention has only originate since his end . In the 1990s , the U.S. , the UK , and Canada embraced tactile paving in their cities . Miyake ’s initial design has been built upon throughout the years ; there are nowpill - shaped bumpsto indicate changes in focal point and raise lines run perpendicular to foot up traffic to signal upcomingsteps . And even though they ’re often thought of as tools for blind citizenry , the bright color used in tactile paving also make them more visible to pedestrians with visual deadening .
