Map will help city's disabled

Finding handicap-friendly facilities is getting a bit easier these days in Shanghai, just in time for this year's Special Olympics. An online map will soon be launched highlighting the location of "barrier-free" facilities accessible to the disabled. A trial version of Jing'an District has already been posted on the district's website, and a full version will include the location of ramps and elevators, toilet facilities and service agencies throughout the entire city. Information for athletes on gymnasiums and lodgings will be added in time for the Special Olympics, which begin in August. Shen Jia, of the information center of the Shanghai Association of the Disabled, said the digital map will also help authorities monitor facilities claiming to be barrier-free. She said people are encouraged to photograph such things as ramps or pathways that might be obstructed. She added that as new facilities for the disabled are opened, they will be added to the map.

(China Daily 06/13/2007 page 5)

Questions: 1. What is a "barrier-free" facility？ 2. What does it mean that there is a "trial" version of the map online currently? Answers: 1. It is a facility which provides open and easy access to people with handicaps and disabilities, such as ramps for use by people in wheelchairs. 2. A trial version is a test version, one which lacks all of the features the map will eventually have. It is an initial test version that the creators can make changes to, and use to see if there are any problems or improvements that they can make.