I've spent the entirety of my 22 years of my life living in sweden and never even knew that they had maps.

What does a blind person do when they feel a braille text that says "do not touch" ?

If I’m not mistaken the same system is in use in Ireland, specifically in Cork. I remember seeing those blue boxes at pedestrian crossings back in 2010s.

Vanlig svensk w

It dosen't help much when the fucking cars are allowed to drive at the same time as i'm walking over the crosswalk

it is somewhat common now for youtubers to not voiceover chapter titles. i find a small bit of irony in this trend if that content is about people with low or no vision. i appreciate how the audio-only version handles many of these ideas thoughtfully with wholly different solutions, i just don’t think it’s a huge, clumsy inclusion to have a voice-over chapter in a visual essay.

Mycket cool video 🫶

Wow, that's so neat :D

I seen those boxes all my life.. never realised that they have the same colors as our flag.. thanks!

10:16 That explains why I as a Swede living in Stockholm have never seen this... 👍

The swedes are a very innovative people.

Is it demur aswell?

We have these exact models here in Belgrade, the same colors and everything! So cool to find out the thought and design process behind them. Unfortunately, they are not upkept, and probably around 1 in 5 are broken, either not ticking at all when pressed, or worse - not synced with the crosswalk stoplights! Major safety issue.

I legit thougth first meant that sign coz evryone walk against red at that one.

Thank you for this amazing mini doc. I noticed these by accident and love checking the maps whenever I see them. Super cool that you got the designer too. Top job - was thinking to send this to half as interesting but I think you’ve got it covered!

As of today the most modern and best designed traffic lights and urban furniture come from Spain.

I really love hearing stories about how accessible design is life changing for the people who need it. I think we should all be motivated to make the world a kinder place for the people around us.

see how it provides a layout of the street? very mindful, very thoughtful, very demure. it doesn’t come to work with hard to find buttons, not very demure

The design is very human

Even for me, who is fully sighted but neurodivergent, really appreciate tactile information. It is reassuring as I navigate unfamiliar environments

We have these in Dublin! I always love pointing these out to people

Well, now I need to go around my swedish city and look at all of the crosswalk boxes.

we have the exact same ones in Ireland but I never thought much of them

Thanks for showing this. I'm visually impaired, but I only use the sound. It's perfect if the traffic light is in the direct line if sight to the sun. Before these ticking sound, there was different types of sound for walk, or don't walk. Close to my school, the old acoustic signal could have raised dead people. So good design, and a treat for me since I personally know Jan Lund, who started the company Prisma in the town of Tibro in Sweden. Keep up the good work!

Didn't think a crosswalk button-box could be so interesting!

Another reason to be proud living here in beautiful Österlen

This is so cool. I'll have to pay attention to my local pedestrian crossings to see if I spot one of these.

I have been looking at these things extremely closely this year for reasons I'd rather not say and I think this video does not give appropriate critique to the lack of high-contrast on the directional arrow and the symbols. I think the designers chose patriotism above accessibility for the partially sighted.

gotta add "very cutesy" to the title for more engagements lol

this is exactly what I want to learn about

Man tycker att detta borde vara mer uppmärksammat? Varken min blinda far eller jag hade hört talas om att detta existerade.

It's good they exist for those that need them but I would never live next to one of them, the ticking noise gets to me. at night it can seem like the noise is echoing about when there's multiple of them.

There are also tactile "paths" at bus stops and at least some stations. The tiny bumps warning for the edge at the tracks but also grooves to follow to find the door on the bus. A good example of a tactile map can be found in the bus station connected to Gothenburg central station.

I saw the thumbnail and immediately knew the video would be about the tactile maps. I'm fully sighted, but easily bored, so I usually stave off the boredom by making sure they properly match!

Another trick with those boxes is if you tap them it will increase the volume as well. So it might not be that busy, but you're still having issues hearing it? Tap the top repeatedly.

Absolutely brills video! I love street furniture and industrial design, so it was super interesting :) Would love to see more stuff like this.

That NYC redesign is such a downgrade, I feel attacked by it.

I paused this video half way through, went outside, looked at the crossing-box thats just 10 m from my window and it had this map. It made me happy :) I have never noticed that before and its such a neat little thing that I probably will see every time i press on these boxes from now on. Cheers

It would be easier if the US made all drivers license the same in all states. Just like the EU regulations did in Europe 25-30 years ago.

I live in Oslo and this is the most bullshit design ever. We have them here as well. The button itself is not tactile and it’s not obvious where to press if you can’t see well. Also if you have impaired hearing, there is no tactile click when you press the button so you have to be looking at it to know if you pressed it, instead of paying attention to the road and other pedestrians.

very demure

Ehm, tactile crossing maps under those boxes are common for years here in Switzerland.

Small correction regarding ÖNORM. It is not a law (there are normally no technical requirements in Austrian law) but represents the technical standard. Not following the technical standard means that an engineer has to defend that decision and is at risk of losing their right to work as an engineer. To not follow the ÖNORM by letter would require fulfilling the goal of the standard (stated at the beginnings the standard) in another way. Technically possible but very expensive and unusual to not just follow ÖNORM. NORM means standard by the way. Love your videos

Born in Sweden in the 90's, didn't know these existed. I have seen the markings of course, thought it was some kind of logo or decoration 😅

These boxes are ubiquitous in Norway, such a shame they're Swedish 😄 One thing you forgot to mention is that they actually don't have just one button, but two! There's a second button hidden underneath, pressing it lengthens the pedestrian green light for the next cycle. It's an excellent feature for the elderly or anyone who may need extra time to cross.

Why is your pronunciation correct? Explain yourself, you mere mortal.

As a swede I often ponder how long ago since the various features of this system has existed. I know the ticking is more than 20 years old, and it ticks instead of "beeping" since the ticking is a more broad band sound that is both easier for hearing impaired people to hear, but also easier to locate in general. (more monotone sounds are harder to locate. And this is why the reversing sound of trucks has started to be changed towards something more white noise-ish sound instead, and one can hear it better at a much lower sound level as well.) Another subtle thing with the tick is that it ticks on each side of the crossing when idling, alternating back and forth. Ie, one can more easily hear where the other side is. When one is free to go the ticking goes a lot faster, and when the time is soon up it goes in shorter bursts to let people know they don't have much time left. And all of that has been a thing for as long as I can remember. The arrow on top is also quite old, at least 10 years by images I have been able to find. But it is nice that they kept that feature even when adding in the tactile map. I have seen this tactile map in the wild here in Stockholm, but they are very rare. However, I might have spotted it in a neighboring city. (considering that "Stockholm" often includes the neighboring cities of Lidingö, Danderyd, Solna, Sollentuna, Ekerö, Huddinge, Haninge, Tyresö and Nacka, that all more or less have grown together into one massive city with little visual evidence of boarders. Other than the sudden change in road quality since they refurbish their roads at different intervals, and the city signs saying you are entering another city.) As far as other crossings I have seen out in the world, even the fact that these tick is revolutionary, considering how some countries haven't yet learned to put buttons on their refuge islands... And they have been ticking for decades to the point it is somewhat part of Swedish culture, the slow ticking of cross walks is just part of our cityscape. (and no, the ticking ain't loud, so indoors it is usually far from easy to hear unless one lives right next to one.) Another thing with our buttons is that we have 2. A standard one, and a long one. And unlike Singapore you don't need a special disability card to use the longer one, since abusing the longer time isn't really a thing... Since it doesn't add a huge amount of time. Crossings are made such that one can reach the other side on the normal time as a normal person, and longer crossings have at least 1 refuge island to wait on with another set of buttons, and as stated, one do get informed of when the time is soon up. And vehicles also must wait until people have finished crossing and generally do wait when needed. So in the end, if one needs a lot of time, one can take it in steps.

5.15 I like how you just basically asked all the edgy teens to go around messing up these boxes

How about "Algerian"? It´s My number one worst font!

I think Japan does this way cooler, because they have tactile markings in the ground and unique sounds for every street corner.