Line Standing

The everyday social activity of waiting in an ordered queue — at a cashier, bus stop, check-in counter, or reception desk. For blind people, line standing is an often-overlooked accessibility challenge: the end of the line is a dynamically moving position that cannot be located by white cane or guide dog, and the task of advancing in sync with the person in front relies on visual cues. Most assistive navigation research targets fixed-destination wayfinding, leaving line standing dependent on asking strangers for help, intuition from ambient sounds, or avoiding the task. Emerging smartphone-based systems use pedestrian detection and depth sensing to help blind users find and follow the end of a line while maintaining appropriate social distance.