MassGIS, the Commonwealth's Office of Geographic and Environmental Information, is committed to
achieving meaningful accessibility to this online environment for all
users, including users with disabilities. We follow specific
Commonwealth enterprise standards, Enterprise Web Accessibility Standards, designed to meet the needs of
our citizens with disabilities. The Commonwealth enterprise standards
are generally based on standards used by the Federal government for
technology accessibility for people with disabilities, and web content
accessibility guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C). For more information about the Federal standards, please visit
the Section 508 web site (http://www.section508.gov) or the Federal
Access Board web site (http://www.access-board.gov). For more
information about the W3C guidelines, please visit their web site
(http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT). The MassGIS web site is
regularly tested using leading web accessibility technologies and
reviewed by users to verify that this web site is compliant with
applicable standards.
About Portable Document Format (PDF)
Some documents on this web site are produced in Portable Document
Format (PDF). Efforts are currently underway to ensure that all files
are produced using the latest version of Acrobat (file conversion
software for PDFs), which is the most accessible technology currently
available for these types of files. In order to improve viewing of
these files, please download the latest version of Adobe ReaderTM,
which is available for free at the Adobe web site
(http://www.adobe.com).
However, recognizing that even this version does not always work for
all users, alternative accessible formats are provided wherever
possible, most commonly through a text or an HTML file.
Online Mapping Applications
Because of their
visual, interactive and dynamic nature, geospatial related maps and
data in particular pose challenges to full accessibility due to the
current design of software applications. For example, navigation tools
like panning and zooming require the use of a mouse. Also, screen
readers are not able to accurately describe the full content of a map
generated in an on-the-fly and dynamic manner. The issue of
accessibility and GIS is a concern to MassGIS and other organizations
providing such content over the Web, and various research projects are
investigating alternative methods of accessing geographic information
online. MassGIS hopes to implement new practical methods and
technologies as they emerge.
Contact Information
If any file format prevents you from accessing the information, please
contact us for assistance. In order to respond in a manner most helpful
to you, please note the nature of your accessibility concern, the
format in which you prefer to receive the material, the web page
address of the requested material, and the best way to contact you.
We also welcome your questions about this accessibility statement and comments on how to improve the site’s accessibility.
Please contact us by mail:
MassGIS
251 Causeway St., Suite 500
Boston, MA 02114
By phone: 617-626-1195
or by email: michael.trust@state.ma.us
IMPORTANT: Only messages regarding technical accessibility will be
answered at the above phone or email addresses. For all other questions please refer to the MassGIS Contacts page.
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