Installation errors and corrections in tactile ground surface indicators in Europe, America, Oceania and Asia

The Tactile Ground Surface Indicator (TGSI) is a piece of equipment made in Japan for people who are blind or visually impaired. When it came to installing this device, many countries tried to follow the Japanese way of doing this procedure. A survey was conducted in 16 countries and 1 region; 5 countries in Europe, 2 in Pan-America, 2 in Oceania, 7 in Asia and 1 region, by using a field work for detecting barrier-free to check how properly or improperly the TGSI were installed. The results of the survey from these countries from around the world, found the TGSI were installed all over urban areas of the leading cities in Asia, and mainly around rail stations and underground railway stations in Europe, Pan-America and Oceania. However, we found some of the TGSI all over the world were installed improperly which included the same mistakes as found in Japan such as; That no warning blocks were installed at the point where guide blocks crossed each other, or that the TGSI were installed improperly so that people in wheelchairs felt them barriers. Also, many of these countries had to come up with their on variation of ways of installing the TGSI even though they were following the standard Japanese way of installation. This has prevented us from unifying and creating a global standard for the TGSI. In addition, we found that the intermixed way of installing the TGSI by the Japanese rule and its peculiar rule in a certain country had prevented people who are blind or visually impaired from using them easily. The consensus was proposed that there should be a global standardized manual created to unify the way in which the TGSI is installed for everyone. Creating a guideline for installing the TGSI has been demanded by many groups of people who are blind or visually impaired from all over the world and the detailed results of this study surveyed in many countries can be very important data for creating a guideline. That all the related organs all over the world such as government agencies, self-governing bodies, welfare parties and contractors hold the same guideline enables all the countries to install the TGSI properly.