In a world driven by data visualization, ensuring the inclusive accessibility of charts for Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) individuals remains a significant challenge. Charts are usually presented as raster graphics without textual and visual metadata needed for an equivalent exploration experience for BVI people. Additionally, converting these charts into accessible formats requires considerable effort from sighted individuals. Digitizing charts with metadata extraction is just one aspect of the issue; transforming it into accessible modalities, such as tactile graphics, presents another difficulty. To address these disparities, we propose Chart4Blind, an intelligent user interface that converts bitmap image representations of line charts into universally accessible formats. Chart4Blind achieves this transformation by generating Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), Comma-Separated Values (CSV), and alternative text exports, all comply with established accessibility standards. Through interviews and a formal user study, we demonstrate that even inexperienced sighted users can make charts accessible in an average of 4 minutes using Chart4Blind, achieving a System Usability Scale rating of 90%. In comparison to existing approaches, Chart4Blind provides a comprehensive solution, generating end-to-end accessible SVGs suitable for assistive technologies such as embossed prints (papers and laser cut), 2D tactile displays, and screen readers. For additional information, including open-source codes and demos, please visit our project page https://moured.github.io/chart4blind/.

翻译：在数据可视化驱动的世界中，确保盲人与视障群体能够平等获取图表信息仍是一项重大挑战。图表通常以光栅图形形式呈现，缺乏盲人与视障个体获得等效探索体验所需的文本与视觉元数据。此外，将这些图表转换为无障碍格式需要明眼人的大量投入。通过元数据提取实现图表数字化仅是问题的一个方面，将其转化为触觉图形等无障碍模态则构成另一重困难。为应对这些差异，我们提出Chart4Blind——一个将折线图位图图像表示转换为通用无障碍格式的智能用户界面。Chart4Blind通过生成可缩放矢量图形（SVG）、逗号分隔值（CSV）及替代文本导出文件实现转换，所有输出均符合现有无障碍标准。通过访谈和正式用户研究，我们证明即使缺乏经验的明眼用户也能在使用Chart4Blind时平均耗时4分钟完成图表无障碍化处理，系统可用性量表评分达90%。相较于现有方法，Chart4Blind提供端到端解决方案，可生成适用于浮雕打印（纸张与激光切割）、二维触觉显示器及屏幕阅读器等辅助技术的无障碍SVG。更多信息（包括开源代码与演示）请访问项目页面：https://moured.github.io/chart4blind/。