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Tactile ground surface indicators in Australia: where TGSIs are required and why
Tactile ground surface indicators, or TGSIs, are truncated cones or bars on a floor or footpath that give pedestrians who are blind or have a vision impairment a warning or a direction to follow (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clause 606.03). In buildings, the Access Code in the Premises Standards and Volume One of the National Construction Code 2025 say where they are required and send their design to AS/NZS 1428.4.1 (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause D3.8; NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9). That standard is published by Standards Australia and is not reproduced in those texts, so this guide explains only what the free official texts say, and leaves out the sizes, spacing and setbacks that are written only in the standard.
This guide summarises the sources it cites; it is not legal advice. The official texts are the reference.
What TGSIs are for
The Australian Building Codes Board, which writes the National Construction Code, gives their purpose in one line: to help people who are blind or have a vision impairment avoid hazardous situations (ABCB guide to D4D9). They come in two kinds. Warning indicators are a surface of truncated domes that alerts pedestrians to a hazard on the continuous accessible path of travel, so that they stop and work out what it is before going on. Directional indicators are a surface of directional grooves that gives orientation and marks the continuous accessible path of travel where other tactile or environmental cues are not enough (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clauses 606.03 and 606.06). The Transport Standards use the same two names, warning and directional TGSIs (Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 18.2, as substituted).
Contrast matters as much as texture. Many people with a vision impairment use their remaining sight to find the limits of a footpath and recognise hazards, which is why TGSIs that warn of a hazard need a high visual contrast with the walking surface around them (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clause 606.06). The texture itself is felt underfoot or with a long cane; how a cane reads the ground is in the white cane guide, and where a guide dog can go in its own guide.
Other countries use the same idea under other names: the United States has fields of truncated domes at curb ramps and platform edges, and the UK has six tactile paving surfaces, each with a single message.
Where TGSIs are required in a building
For a building required to be accessible, the National Construction Code asks for TGSIs that warn people who are blind or have a vision impairment that they are approaching any of these, except in the areas exempted by clause D4D5 (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)):
| Approaching | Not required for | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A stairway | a fire-isolated stairway | NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)(a) |
| An escalator | — | NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)(b) |
| A passenger conveyor or moving walk | — | NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)(c) |
| A ramp | a fire-isolated ramp, a step ramp, a kerb ramp or a swimming pool ramp | NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)(d) |
| An overhead obstruction less than 2 m above floor level | a doorway; and only required where there is no suitable barrier | NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)(e)(i) |
| An accessway meeting a vehicular way next to a pedestrian entrance to the building | a point with a kerb or kerb ramp, or with a suitable barrier, and an entrance that serves an exempted area | NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(1)(e)(ii) |
The Access Code in the Premises Standards has the same list in clause D3.8, with its exemptions in clause D3.4 (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clauses D3.4 and D3.8). The exempted areas are an area where access would be inappropriate because of the particular purpose for which it is used, an area that would pose a health or safety risk for people with a disability, and any path of travel that leads only to one of them; some states have their own version of that clause (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D5). Which buildings, and which parts of them, have to be accessible in the first place is set out class by class in the clause before it (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D2).
In its guide to the NCC, the Board adds that warning TGSIs are meant only for the specific hazards in that list: the top and bottom of stairways, escalators and ramps, other than those leading only to exempted areas, and overhead obstructions under 2 m where no suitable barrier stops a person from hitting them. They are not required on enclosed landings between flights of stairs where no other entrance or exit leads onto or off the landing (ABCB guide to D4D9).
Aged care and health care: dome buttons on handrails
Some buildings may warn of stairs and ramps on the handrail instead of the floor. A hostel for the aged, a nursing home for the aged, a residential aged care building, Class 3 accommodation for the aged, a Class 9a health-care building or a Class 9c aged care building need not provide TGSIs at a stairway or a ramp if its handrails incorporate a raised dome button, in accordance with AS/NZS 1428.4.1, that warns people who are blind or have a vision impairment that they are approaching the stairway or ramp (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(3); Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause D3.8(3)).
The reason, in the Board’s guide, is that indicators on the ground may hinder people using walking frames or the like (ABCB guide to D4D9). The alternative covers only stairways and ramps: escalators, moving walks, overhead obstructions and the point where an accessway meets a vehicular way still need TGSIs in those buildings (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(3)).
AS/NZS 1428.4.1 and the other standards the law calls up
The design of TGSIs is in Australian Standards that the official texts call up clause by clause without reproducing them. AS/NZS 1428.4.1 is Design for access and mobility, Part 4.1: Means to assist the orientation of people with vision impairment — Tactile ground surface indicators (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause A3.1, Table 1). Which text calls up which standard:
| Text and clause | Standard | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Access Code D3.8 and NCC 2025 D4D9: buildings in general | AS/NZS 1428.4.1 (2009, incorporating amendments 1 and 2), sections 1 and 2 | Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clauses A3.1 and D3.8; NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(2) |
| Access Code H2.11 and NCC 2025 I2D11: passenger use areas of public transport buildings | AS 1428.4 (1992), on an accessway, with changes of direction shown as in clause 18.1 of AS 1428.2 | Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clauses A3.1 and H2.11; NCC 2025, Part I2, clause I2D11 |
| Transport Standards, Part 18, as compiled in 2011 | AS1428.4 (1992) for style and dimensions, and clause 18.1 of AS1428.2 (1992) for location | Transport Standards 2002, sections 18.1 and 18.2 |
| Transport Standards, Part 18, as amended in 2026 | AS/NZS 1428.4.1 (2009): clause 2.3.3 for where warning TGSIs go; clauses 2.2, 2.3.1 and 2.3.2 for their style and dimensions; clauses 2.2, 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 for directional TGSIs | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, sections 18.1 and 18.2, as substituted |
A reference brings in only the edition listed, and only so much of it as is relevant where it is quoted; where the standard and the Access Code differ, the Access Code prevails (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clauses A2.2 and A2.3).
Because the free texts do not reproduce the standard, this guide does not give the size or spacing of the domes and bars, how deep a field of warning indicators is, or how far it is set back from a hazard. When NCC 2025 takes effect in each state and territory, and the rest of the AS 1428 family, are in the guide to AS 1428.1.
Colour and luminance contrast
Luminance contrast compares the light reflected from one surface with the light reflected from another (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clause 606.03). The building clauses do not set a colour or a contrast figure for TGSIs themselves; they send the indicators to sections 1 and 2 of AS/NZS 1428.4.1 (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9(2)). The Transport Standards, as compiled in 2011, asked for colour-contrasted tactile indicators at accessible bus boarding points and at the edges of railway platforms and wharves (Transport Standards 2002, sections 18.3 to 18.5).
One state road authority writes its own figures down. Main Roads Western Australia’s specification for the TGSIs on its road works picks the colour to suit the surface around them, measures luminance contrast as set out in Appendix E of AS/NZS 1428.4.1, and asks for at least:
| Type of TGSI | Minimum contrast with the adjacent path of travel | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated: indicators in a defined pattern, of the same luminance and material as their base | 30% | Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clauses 606.03 and 606.13 |
| Discrete: installed one by one, with the same luminance on the sloping sides and the top of each cone | 45% | Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clauses 606.03 and 606.13 |
| Composite discrete: installed one by one, with a different luminance on the sloping sides and the top | 60% | Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clauses 606.03 and 606.13 |
The same specification does not accept stick-on TGSIs without extra mechanical fastenings, such as screws, so that their edges cannot lift, and does not use discrete TGSIs on its projects unless the contract asks for them (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clauses 606.06 and 606.09). These are the rules of one road authority for its own works, not a national requirement for buildings.
Stations, bus stops and wharves: the Transport Standards
Public transport has its own disability standard, the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002. It applies to operators and the conveyances they use to provide public transport services, and to providers and the premises and infrastructure that support them (Transport Standards 2002, section 1.4). Its Part 18, on TGSIs, was rewritten by an amendment in force from 13 October 2026 (Transport Standards Amendment 2026, Schedule 18). Under the amended text:
| Where | What is required | Source |
|---|---|---|
| An access path in premises and infrastructure, except premises covered by the Premises Standards | warning TGSIs to show a stairway, an escalator, an inclined travelator, a moving walkway, a ramp, or step ramps in a passenger use area; and, where there is no suitable barrier, an overhead obstruction less than 2 m above the floor other than a doorway, a hazard within a circulation space or next to a path of travel, and a point where an access path meets a vehicular way next to a pedestrian entrance with no kerb or kerb ramp | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 18.1, as substituted |
| Bus stops and bus zones | TGSIs at accessible boarding points | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 18.3, as amended |
| Railway platforms | warning TGSIs at the platform edge, as in clause 3.4 of AS/NZS 1428.4.1 | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 18.4, as amended |
| Passenger wharves | warning TGSIs at the wharf edge, as in clause 3.5 of AS/NZS 1428.4.1 | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 18.5, as amended |
| Passenger loading zones and taxi ranks that join the carriageway at grade | warning TGSIs as in clause 2.5 of AS/NZS 1428.4.1; on public streets, with bollards as in its Figure 2.5(B) | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, sections 8.10 to 8.12, as amended |
| Steps and stairs on buses | no TGSIs required | Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 14.4(5), as substituted |
The new sections 18.1 and 18.2 apply to TGSIs installed on or after 13 October 2026. TGSIs that were already there and are still in service have to meet them only after a transitional period of 10 years from that day (Transport Standards Amendment 2026, sections 35.1 and 35.19). Before the amendment, the rule on location was shorter: TGSIs on an access path to show stairways, ramps, changes of direction, overhead obstructions below 2000 mm and hazards within a circulation space or next to a path of travel (Transport Standards 2002, section 18.1).
Stations and terminals are buildings too. In the passenger use areas of a Class 9b or Class 10 building used for public transport, Part H2 of the Access Code and Part I2 of NCC 2025 apply, and they take precedence where they differ from the general access clauses (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause H2.1; NCC 2025, Part I2, clause I2D1). The Premises Standards also gave existing public transport buildings a timetable: an operator or provider had to bring the TGSIs, with ramps, stairways, doors and other aspects, up to the Access Code in at least 25% of its existing buildings for each type of service by 1 May 2011, 55% by 31 December 2012 and 90% by 31 December 2017, and every aspect in all of them by 31 December 2022 (Premises Standards 2010, section 3.1(2) and (3)).
How TGSIs become a legal requirement
Under the Disability Discrimination Act, the Minister may make disability standards, and contravening one is unlawful (Disability Discrimination Act 1992, sections 31 and 32). Two of them call up TGSIs: the Premises Standards for buildings and the Transport Standards for public transport, both made under subsection 31(1) of the Act (Premises Standards 2010; Transport Standards 2002).
Under the Premises Standards, building certifiers, developers and managers must ensure that a new building, a new part or an affected part complies with the Access Code (Premises Standards 2010, sections 2.1 and 3.1(1)), and a building that meets its deemed-to-satisfy clauses, D3.8 among them, is taken to comply (Premises Standards 2010, section 3.2). Compliance is not required where it would impose unjustifiable hardship, but it is still required as far as it does not (Premises Standards 2010, section 4.1).
The National Construction Code applies to building work through each state and territory, which adopts each edition on its own date (NCC 2025 adoption dates). Who the Act applies to, and how a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission works, are in the guide to the Disability Discrimination Act.
Where to read the official texts
- The Access Code for Buildings, clause D3.8 and Part H2, in the Premises Standards: Premises Standards 2010.
- National Construction Code 2025, Volume One: clause D4D9 in Part D4 (NCC 2025, Part D4) and Part I2 for public transport buildings (NCC 2025, Part I2).
- The Australian Building Codes Board’s guide to clause D4D9: ABCB guide to D4D9.
- The Transport Standards, Transport Standards 2002, and their 2026 amendment, Transport Standards Amendment 2026.
- Main Roads Western Australia’s Specification 606, for TGSIs on its road works: Main Roads WA, Specification 606.
- The UK version, with six surfaces: tactile paving in the UK. The American version: truncated domes. Australia’s laws next to those of other countries: accessibility laws by country.
TGSIs on Braillito Maps
A building can have every indicator the code asks for and still leave people guessing about the places around it. Braillito Maps is a community map that answers ten questions about each place: step-free entrance or ramp, wide doorway, accessible toilet, accessible parking, tactile paving, braille signage, braille menu, audible signals, guide dogs welcome and a quiet environment.
Tactile paving is one of them: whether there is a tactile guide on the floor for people who use a cane. Each question is answered yes or no, or stays without data until someone knows, and the score of a place is the number of yes answers out of ten, always shown with its number, never by colour alone.
If you run a shop, a café or an office in Australia, add your place with its answers, so that customers with disabilities find it before they leave home. If what a place says is wrong, it can be reported. Meet Braillito Maps.
Frequently asked questions
What does TGSI stand for?
Tactile ground surface indicator: truncated cones or bars on a floor or footpath that give pedestrians who are blind or have a vision impairment a warning of a hazard or a direction to follow (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clause 606.03). The National Construction Code calls the clause on them tactile indicators (NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9).
Where are TGSIs required in a building?
In a building required to be accessible, where people approach a stairway, an escalator, a moving walk or a ramp, and, where there is no suitable barrier, an overhead obstruction less than 2 m above the floor or a point where an accessway meets a vehicular way next to an entrance with no kerb or kerb ramp. Fire-isolated stairways and ramps, step ramps, kerb ramps, swimming pool ramps and exempted areas are left out (NCC 2025, Part D4, clauses D4D5 and D4D9).
Are TGSIs required on stair landings?
Not on an enclosed landing between flights of stairs where no other entrance or exit leads onto or off the landing, according to the Australian Building Codes Board’s guide to the NCC (ABCB guide to D4D9).
What is the difference between warning and directional TGSIs?
Warning TGSIs, a surface of truncated domes, tell people to stop and work out what the hazard ahead is. Directional TGSIs, a surface of directional grooves, mark the continuous accessible path of travel where other tactile or environmental cues are not enough (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clauses 606.03 and 606.06). On public transport, directional TGSIs used in the absence of other wayfinding cues are installed as set out in clauses 3.2.1, 3.2.3 and 3.3 of AS/NZS 1428.4.1 (Transport Standards Amendment 2026, section 18.2(3), as substituted).
Which Australian Standard covers TGSIs?
AS/NZS 1428.4.1, in its 2009 edition with amendments 1 and 2: the NCC and the Access Code require TGSIs in buildings to comply with its sections 1 and 2. In public transport buildings, the Access Code and NCC 2025 still call up the older AS 1428.4 of 1992 (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clauses A3.1, D3.8 and H2.11; NCC 2025, Part I2, clause I2D11).
What luminance contrast do TGSIs need?
The NCC and the Access Code leave it to AS/NZS 1428.4.1, which this guide has not read. For its own road works, Main Roads Western Australia asks for at least 30% for integrated TGSIs, 45% for discrete ones and 60% for composite discrete ones, against the adjacent path of travel (Main Roads WA, Specification 606, clause 606.13).
More accessibility guides
- AS 1428.1 (Australia): AS 1428.1, Design for access and mobility: the edition the NCC and the Access Code call up, the parts of a building it covers and the rest of the AS 1428 family.
- Tactile paving (UK): the six surfaces in the Department for Transport guidance, from blister paving at crossings and corduroy at steps to platform edges, cycle routes and guidance paths.
- Truncated domes and tactile paving: what the bumps on curb ramps and platform edges mean, and their sizes in the US and the UK.
- Disability Discrimination Act (Australia): Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992: who it covers, access to premises, assistance animals, the Premises Standards for buildings and complaints.
- The white cane: what it tells the person using it and the people around them, and White Cane Safety Day.
- Guide dogs: how they work, where they can go under the ADA, and how to act around one.
- Accessibility laws by country: the ADA, the UK Equality Act, the Accessible Canada Act, Australia’s DDA and the EU rules, and what each covers.
- All accessibility guides
Sources
Every figure in this guide comes from one of these official texts, which we read in October 2026.
- Specification 606: Tactile ground surface indicators. Main Roads Western Australia, on mainroads.wa.gov.au, issued 19 September 2025; read October 2026.
- National Construction Code 2025, Volume One, Part D4: Access for people with a disability. Australian Building Codes Board, on ncc.abcb.gov.au, NCC 2025, published 1 May 2026; read October 2026.
- Guide to the NCC Volume One: D4D9 Tactile indicators. Australian Building Codes Board, on abcb.gov.au, read October 2026.
- Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport Amendment 2026. Attorney-General, on the Federal Register of Legislation, as made (F2026L01002), dated 27 July 2026; in force from 13 October 2026; read October 2026.
- Disability (Access to Premises — Buildings) Standards 2010, with the Access Code for Buildings (Schedule 1). made under subsection 31(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, on the Federal Register of Legislation, compilation No. 3 of 23 November 2024; in force since 1 May 2011; read October 2026.
- National Construction Code 2025, Volume One, Part I2: Public transport buildings. Australian Building Codes Board, on ncc.abcb.gov.au, NCC 2025, published 1 May 2026; read October 2026.
- Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport 2002. made under subsection 31(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, on the Federal Register of Legislation, compilation of 1 May 2011 (F2011C00213), before the 2026 amendment; read October 2026.
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Parliament of Australia, on the Federal Register of Legislation, compilation of October 8, 2026 (C2026C00456).
- NCC 2025 state and territory adoption information. Australian Building Codes Board, on ncc.abcb.gov.au, read October 2026.
Braillito Maps
Find places with ramps, accessible toilets or tactile paving near you in Braillito Maps
In Braillito Maps, every place answers ten questions. One is tactile paving: whether there is a tactile guide on the floor for cane users. It is built by the people who need it, and every place gets a score out of ten.
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