Automatically Generated Landmark-enhanced Navigation Instructions for Blind Pedestrians

Visual impairment limits a person mainly in the ability to move freely and independently. Even with many navigation aids and tools currently on the market, almost one-third of the visually impaired do not travel alone without a guide. One of the most useful aids are the landmark-enhanced itineraries of the route created by orientation and mobility specialists. We describe the design of a system, which is based on a specific, efficiently collected geographical data, and which automatically generates human-like landmark-enhanced itineraries for navigation of visually impaired users. The studies we conducted (quantitative n = 16, qualitative n = 6) showed usability and efficiency of the system. We also provide a set of design recommendations to increase the usability of the system along with specific examples of usage of particular landmarks. Moreover, we report on 14-day long diary study (n = 3) where visually impaired participants used the system freely throughout the city center with a success rate of 84% without using GPS. Finally, based on an over-the-phone survey (n = 18), we provide a methodology to identify the essential area, where geographical data needs to be collected to enable visually impaired pedestrians to travel around the city center efficiently.

Mapping the response: A survey of municipal firefighter navigation training and practices in the United States

For many millions of users, 3D virtual worlds provide an engaging, immersive experience heightened by a synergistic combination of visual realism with dynamic control of the user’s movement within the virtual world. For individuals with visual or dexterity impairments, however, one or both of those synergistic elements are impacted, reducing the usability and therefore the utility of the 3D virtual world. This article considers what features are necessary to make virtual worlds usable by such individuals. Empirical work has been based on a multiplayer 3D virtual world game called PowerUp, to which we have built in an extensive set of accessibility features. These features include in-world navigation and orientation tools, font customization, self-voicing text-to-speech output, key remapping options, and keyboard-only and mouse-only navigation. Through empirical work with legally blind teenagers and adults with cerebral palsy, these features have been refined and validated. Whereas accessibility support for users with visual impairment often revolves around keyboard navigation, these studies emphasized the need to support visual aspects of pointing device actions too. Other notable findings include use of speech to supplement sound effects for novice users, and, for those with cerebral palsy, a general preference to use a pointing device to look around the world, rather than keys or on-screen buttons. The PowerUp accessibility features provide a core level of accessibility for the user groups studied.

Abstract— Nowadays there are many cases of eye injuries and in certain injuries people suffer from long term recovery and in certain cases they suffer from permanent damage. In these situations they face a lot many problems in daily life and one of the major problems they face is moving around. So i tried to solve this problem by proposing a system consisting of ultrasonic sensors and ESP32 which detects and analyses the obstacles and generates the alarming signals according to the distance of the object. s, which includes an ESP32, an Ultrasonic sensor, a speech playback module, a GPS receiver module, and a GSM. Using an ultrasonic sensor, the Smart Stick locates impediments and feeds the information to an ESP32 for proximity calculation. The GSM module then determines the user's location and sends messages to their family based on sensor data, with the voice playback module providing vocal help to avoid collisions with obstructions. Because of its user-friendly control mechanism and ability to detect obstacles in all directions, the Smart Stick offers a comprehensive solution for those with vision impairment or blindness. The Smart Stick is a useful navigational aid. Using its GSM module, it can detect impediments in all directions, offer voice help, and give loved one’s security. Anyone with a visual impairment can utilize it thanks to how simple it is to use. Keywords— ultrasonic sensor, ESP32, buzzer, haptic motor, GPS module

Navigation is one of the most complex daily activities we engage in. Partly due to its complexity, navigational abilities are vulnerable to many conditions including Topographical Agnosia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and vision impairments. While navigation using solely vision remains a difficult problem in the field of assistive technology, emerging methods in Deep Reinforcement Learning and Computer Vision show promise in producing vision-based navigational aids for those with navigation impairments. To this effect, we introduce GraphMem, a Neural Computing approach to navigation tasks and compare it to several state of the art Neural Computing methods in a one-shot, 3D, first-person maze solving task. Comparing GraphMem to current methods in navigation tasks unveils insights into navigation and represents a first step towards employing these emerging techniques in navigational assistive technology.

Intelligent Vehicles (IV) and navigational assistance for the Visually Impaired (VI) are becoming highly coupled, both fulfilling safety-critical tasks towards the utopia of all traffic participants. In this paper, the main purpose is to leverage recently emerged methods for self-driving technology, and transfer them to augment perception and aid navigation in ambient assisted living. More precisely, we put forward to seize pixel-wise semantic segmentation to support curb negotiation and traversability awareness, along the pathway of visually impaired individuals. At the crux of our perception unification framework is an effort to attain efficient understanding by proposing a deep architecture built on residual factorized convolution and pyramidical representation. A comprehensive set of experiments demonstrates the accurate scene parsing results with promise of real-time inference speed. Crucially, real-world performance over state-of-art approaches qualifies the proposed framework for assistance when deployed to two wearable navigation systems, including a pair of commercial smart glasses and a prototype of customized device.

This report describes the pilot conducted in the final phase of a project, Expanding Audio Access to Mathematics Expressions by Students With Visual Impairments via MathML, to provide easy‐to‐use tools for authoring and rendering secondary‐school algebra‐level math expressions in synthesized speech that is useful for students with blindness or low vision. The pilot evaluated the authoring and speech‐rendition tools, including interactive navigation. Teachers participated in the portion of the study that evaluated the authoring tools. Secondary school students with blindness or low vision participated in the portion that evaluated the speech‐rendition and navigation tools, comparing those tools to each student's usual method (braille or print) for working with math. The teachers received an interactive authoring tutorial and the students received an interactive navigation tutorial before using the tools studied. Prior to the pilot, feedback studies on authoring and navigation gathered information that was used to fine‐tune the tutorials and the functionalities being evaluated. In the pilot we attempted to simulate a likely use‐case for each group. In the students' case, the tools for reading and navigating spoken mathematics were compared directly with the methods each student typically used for reading math (braille or print in a size appropriate for the student). Teachers and content providers were instructed to author math expressions that matched those used in the pilot instruments given to the students. The studies showed that the authoring tools were easy for teachers to use as intended and that little observable difference existed between students' success in answering math and math‐parsing questions when using the spoken math tools and their success in answering parallel questions posed in braille or print of appropriate size. Please see Appendix E for information on obtaining a version of this report that is fully accessible using the tools described.

Currently, several outdoor navigation and orientation electronic traveling aid (ETA) solutions for visually impaired (VI) people are commercially available or in active development. This paper’s survey of blind experts has shown that after outdoor navigation, the second most important ETA feature for VI persons is indoor navigation and orientation (in public institutions, supermarkets, office buildings, homes, etc.). VI persons need ETA for orientation and navigation in unfamiliar indoor environments with embedded features for the detection and recognition of obstacles (not only on the ground but also at head level) and desired destinations such as rooms, staircases, and elevators. The development of such indoor navigation systems, which do not have Global Positioning System (GPS) locational references, is challenging and requires an overview and evaluation of existing systems with different navigation technologies. This paper presents an evaluation and comparison of state-of-the-art indoor navigation solutions, and the research implications provide a summary of the critical observations, some insights, and directions for further developments. The paper maps VI needs in relation to research and development (R&D) trends using the evaluation criteria deemed most important by blind experts.

When exploring new environments, people regularly alternate among many sources of spatial information including direct visual input, navigation aids such as maps and mobile devices, and verbal route descriptions. These spatial representations typically depict the environment from one of two perspectives: first-person, embedded route perspective or top-down, bird's eye survey perspective. Visual spatial cognition research has explored the nature of learning within each of these perspectives independently, but little work has been done to explore how on-line visual processing of combined perspectives affects cognition, meaning there is little understanding of the cognitive costs of using different navigation tools to learn large-scale environments. This dissertation addresses such questions through two experiments that guide participants through simple paths in large-scale environments, each consisting of a simple path through a small virtual town presented on a desktop computer display. By timing participants' movement through each environment and how they respond to either externally-controlled or participant-controlled perspective switches, the experiments measure the cognitive load of visually processing dynamic perspectives during navigation. These on-line processing measures are complemented by tests of visual recognition and recall memory, which reveal how switching perspectives affects the accuracy of the resulting spatial mental model. The results indicate that the cognitive load associated with changing perspectives is primarily dependent on the quantity of visual information the change introduces -- the transformation itself is not particularly disorienting after the first exposure to the environment. Furthermore, although forced perspective switches do not appear to significantly affect spatial memory accuracy relative to viewing the environment from a consistent perspective, navigator-controlled switching results in significantly more accurate spatial memory, indicating that navigation aids which allow for perspective control might better support spatial learning than fixed-perspective interfaces. The findings also support previous research showing that route perspective navigation generally yields more accurate spatial memory than survey perspective learning, particularly after extensive experience in the environment. Overall, the findings demonstrate many new aspects of how perspective affects spatial cognition, with implications for spatial learning and the design of navigation aids.

Navigation in hyperspace: An evaluation of the effects of navigational tools and subject matter expertise on browsing and information retrieval in hypertext

Introduction Development of a sensing device that can provide a sufficient perceptual substrate for persons with visual impairments to orient themselves and travel confidently has been a persistent rehabilitation technology goal, with the user interface posing a significant challenge. In the study presented here, we enlist the advice and ideas of individuals who are blind with respect to this challenge, for an envisioned camera-based aid to navigation and wayfinding. Methods We administered a short questionnaire about user preferences and needs for such a device to a sample of 10 well-educated, employed (or retired) visually impaired participants with light perception or less, who were familiar and comfortable with assistive technology. Generally, the items were rankings of relative priority. Results Participants preferred speech as a communications medium for navigating the environment; preferred controlling the auditory display by querying the system rather than interacting via a menu or receiving a stream of continuous speech; and preferred providing input to the system through a keypad rather than through a voice recognition system. Architectural features such as doors and stairs were ranked the most important environmental objects to be located with such a device (over furniture, persons, personal items, and even text signs). Discussion Our sample reported a desire for devices that can guide them to architectural features of their environment. They appear to prefer device interfaces that give them control, and would rather query a system than interact with a menu. They prefer unobtrusive input on a device via keypad rather than through voice recognition. Implications for practitioners Designers of camera-based navigation devices may wish to consider the preferences of our sample by incorporating a query-based interface with simple keypad input and speech output, and to include in their object recognition efforts the goal of identifying architectural features that are significant to users who are blind in navigation.

This paper introduces a new Android navigation app called NavTU for Thai people with visual impairments. Our NavTU app is designed to promote safe and independent travel for Thai people who are blind or have low vision. It is the integration of the GPS-based and camera-based technologies that not only helps the blind pedestrians navigate outdoors from place to place but also locates obstacles such as concrete electric poles, so that the visually impaired can avoid walking into them. The main advantage of NavTU is that the users are allowed to record their own walking paths to the preferred locations. This enables the blind users to walk through any local roads that might not be shown on Google Maps. The blind pedestrians can plan any outdoor path that is convenient and safe to them. The proposed app has Thai as the natural language interface, so it is easy for Thai people with visual impairments to use.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to build an outdoor navigation system to assist Visually Impaired (VI) persons’ navigation independently in urban areas, regardless of the person’s hearing status. An augmented cane, magnetic point or continuous metallic trails, pulsing magnet apparatuses, and the transmission of serialized vibration braille encoded guidance are the features of the proposed navigation system. Trails of magnetic points or metal and pulsing magnet apparatuses will be installed on the sidewalks in the city centres. People with VI are able to sense the magnet points or the metallic trail through their augmented cane. This system will assist them to walk independently. Pulsing magnet apparatuses will be installed at Point of Interests (POI) on sidewalks, such as turns and other decision points, to inform persons through serialized vibrational messages. Methods: The research follows design science research framework with characteristics of prototype construction validation in Living Lab environment.Qualitative research methods (interviews and questionnaire) are employed to for user centered development process and to evaluate afterwards how well the designed artifacts meet the requirements it was set to resolve. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method will be applied to convert users’ requirements into the features of the system.Usability experiments are defined to evaluate the usability of the proposed system in user tests. Pre-test qualitative interviews were performed in Pakistan with 15 blind or VI persons. All the subjects also participated into the system’s usability testing. Results: The feedback of the test persons on about the proposed system after participating in the practical experiment of the system was positive. Based on the results, this kind of system would aid their navigation. The study also collected usability suggestions for further development of the system. Conclusion: The proposed navigation system receives positive feedback from the potential users and the stakeholders. 13 out of the 15 blind and VI test persons were able to follow the test track successfully with the prototype and they found the proposed infrastructure applicable as navigation aid for the VI as a whole.

Navigation is a challenging task for many travelers with visual impairments. While a variety of GPS-enabled tools can provide wayfinding assistance in outdoor settings, GPS provides no useful localization information indoors. A variety of indoor navigation tools are being developed, but most of them require potentially costly physical infrastructure to be installed and maintained, or else the creation of detailed visual models of the environment. We report development of a new smartphone-based navigation aid, which combines inertial sensing, computer vision and floor plan information to estimate the user's location with no additional physical infrastructure and requiring only the locations of signs relative to the floor plan. A formative study was conducted with three blind volunteer participants demonstrating the feasibility of the approach and highlighting the areas needing improvement.

Smartphones have become commodity tools and exist in large multiple in all parts of the population. The typical use of navigation applications focus on aiding users with no impairments. Guidance applications with enhancing features, and facilitating for i.e. people with visual impairments, focus on voice-based feedback. In this paper we focus on the use of haptic feedback as a tool and guidance for navigation, through utilising the vibration mechanism available in mobile phones. Through the development of a prototype application we illustrate how haptic feedback can be used to guide users in cases of visual impairment or hindrance. The preliminary results display a novel contribution to multi-modal navigation and exemplifies active use of receptors for smartphone feedback interpretation.