Glossary

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Sighted Memory(also: Visual Memory, Sighted Recall)

A mental representation of a physical environment developed through past visual experience, used by people who lose their sight later in life to navigate and understand spaces they previously knew visually. People with acquired vision loss often rely on sighted memory to recall…

Sign Recognition(also: Indoor sign recognition, Signage recognition)

The task of automatically detecting, reading, and interpreting signs in an environment — for accessibility purposes, typically indoor directional signs (arrows pointing to corridors or facilities) and textual signs (room numbers, department names, wayfinding labels). Sign…

Signal Fingerprinting(also: Wireless Fingerprinting, RF Fingerprinting, Bluetooth Fingerprinting)

Signal fingerprinting is a technique used in indoor positioning systems where the unique pattern of wireless signal strengths (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or RFID) at specific locations within a building is recorded and stored as a reference map. During navigation, a mobile device…

Situation Awareness(also: SA, Situational Awareness)

The perception and understanding of one's current environment, including the identification of relevant elements, comprehension of their meaning, and projection of their future status. In accessibility and assistive technology contexts, situation awareness refers to systems that…

Skip Link(also: Skip Navigation Link, Skip Nav, Bypass Block)

A hidden or visible hyperlink placed at the beginning of a web page that allows keyboard and screen reader users to jump directly to the main content, bypassing repeated navigation elements. Skip links address WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks) by providing a mechanism…

Skip Navigation(also: Skip Link, Skip Nav, Bypass Block)

A mechanism, typically an in-page anchor link placed at the very beginning of a web page, that allows keyboard and screen reader users to bypass repetitive content such as navigation menus and jump directly to the main content area. Skip navigation links are a WCAG 2.1 Level A…

Smart Cane(also: Electronic Cane, Intelligent Cane)

An enhanced version of the traditional white cane that incorporates electronic sensors — typically ultrasonic or infrared — to detect obstacles beyond the range of physical contact, providing haptic or auditory feedback to the user. Smart canes can detect obstacles at waist or…

Snap Turn(also: Snap Rotation, Comfort Turn)

A virtual reality locomotion technique that rotates the user's viewpoint in discrete angular increments rather than continuous smooth rotation. Typically triggered by a thumbstick or controller input, snap turns rotate the view by a fixed amount (commonly 30-45 degrees) to…

Social Robot Navigation(also: Socially-aware robot navigation, Social navigation)

A subfield of robotics concerned with how a mobile robot should move through environments shared with humans — choosing paths, speeds, and timings that respect social norms as well as physical obstacle avoidance. Classic robot-navigation algorithms optimise for shortest-path…

Spatial Awareness(also: Spatial Cognition, Environmental Awareness)

The understanding of one's surrounding environment and one's own position within it. In accessibility contexts, spatial awareness encompasses multiple dimensions: the scale and shape of an area, one's position and orientation within it, the presence and arrangement of objects,…

Spatial Navigation(also: Spatial Orientation, Spatial Wayfinding)

The cognitive process of determining and following a route from one location to another, involving the ability to remain oriented, recall routines, recognize landmarks, and make decisions at choice points such as intersections and turns. Spatial navigation relies on a…

Spatial cognition(also: Spatial awareness, Cognitive mapping)

The mental processes involved in perceiving, storing, recalling, and using information about spatial environments — including the locations of objects, distances between them, routes through spaces, and the overall geometry of an area. Spatial cognition enables people to build…

Spatialized Audio(also: 3D Audio, Spatial Sound, Immersive Audio)

Spatialized audio is a technology that creates the perception of sound coming from specific locations in three-dimensional space around the listener, using techniques such as head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) and binaural rendering. In accessibility, spatialized audio is…

Spindex(also: Speech Index)

An auditory navigation technique that uses the first letter of each word (spoken or synthesized) as an index to speed up list navigation. When scrolling through alphabetically ordered lists like contacts, a spindex plays the first letter of each item, allowing users to quickly…

Surface Level Change(also: Elevation Change, Grade Change)

Any change in the height of the ground or floor surface, including stairs, curbs, ramps, steps, potholes, and raised thresholds. Surface level changes are a significant mobility challenge and safety hazard for people with low vision and other disabilities. Detecting these…

Table navigation(also: Table browsing, Grid navigation)

A set of screen reader commands that allow users to move between cells, rows, and columns within HTML tables, hearing row and column headers announced for context at each position. Effective table navigation enables non-visual users to understand spatial relationships in…

Tactile Dome(also: Truncated Dome, Detectable Warning Surface)

Small raised bumps arranged in a grid pattern on ground surfaces to provide a tactile warning of an upcoming hazard, such as a curb edge, train platform edge, or street crossing. Tactile domes are part of the broader category of tactile walking surface indicators and are…

Thermotactile Feedback(also: Thermal Feedback, Thermal Haptic Feedback, Thermotactile Display)

Thermotactile feedback is a form of haptic communication that conveys information through controlled temperature changes on the skin, using heating or cooling elements such as Peltier thermoelectric modules. In accessibility, thermotactile feedback offers an alternative to…

Trajectory Analysis(also: Route Analysis, Path Analysis)

The computational study of movement patterns over time and space, typically derived from GPS or other location data. Trajectory analysis involves modelling, comparing, and classifying sequences of spatial positions to identify patterns, anomalies, or behaviours. In assistive…

Transportation Accessibility(also: Accessible Transportation, Mobility Accessibility)

The design and provision of transportation systems, services, and infrastructure that are usable by people with disabilities. Transportation accessibility encompasses physical access to vehicles and transit stops, accessible information systems (route planning, real-time…

Travel Chain(also: Mobility Chain, Journey Chain)

A travel chain is the complete sequence of connected stages that make up a journey from origin to destination, including planning, leaving the starting point, walking to transport, using public transport, navigating outdoor environments, entering buildings, and finding specific…

Turn-by-turn navigation(also: Step-by-step navigation, Guided navigation)

A navigation method that provides sequential walk-and-turn instructions to guide a user along a route without requiring prior knowledge of the environment. For people with visual impairments, turn-by-turn systems typically use audio cues or speech instructions to indicate when…

Veering(also: Lateral Drift)

The tendency of blind and visually impaired pedestrians to gradually drift away from a straight path while walking, resulting in a curved trajectory rather than a direct line. Veering is a well-documented phenomenon in orientation and mobility research, caused by the absence of…

Vibro-Audio Map(also: VAM, Vibro-Audio Display)

A multimodal map representation for touchscreen devices that combines vibrotactile feedback with synchronised audio cues to convey spatial information non-visually. Users explore the map by dragging a finger across the screen; when they cross a feature (a street, a room…

Video Chapters(also: Chapter Markers, Video Segments, Timestamps)

Navigational markers within a video that divide content into labeled sections, allowing viewers to jump directly to specific topics or segments. Video chapters function like a table of contents for video content. For viewers with ADHD, chapters are particularly valuable because…

Virtual Cursor(also: Browse Mode Cursor, Virtual PC Cursor)

A navigation mechanism used by screen readers that creates a linearized, text-based representation of a web page through which users can move sequentially. Unlike a visual cursor that points to a location on screen, the virtual cursor moves through the page's content structure —…

Virtual Exploration(also: Virtual Navigation, Virtual Travel)

The use of technology to simulate the experience of navigating or exploring a real-world environment without physically being there. For people with visual impairments, virtual exploration typically relies on audio-based representations of geographic data — including spatial…

Voice Vista

A free audio-based navigation application for blind and low-vision users that uses 3D spatial audio to announce nearby streets, intersections, points of interest, and set beacons as the user walks. Voice Vista is a community-maintained successor to Microsoft Soundscape, released…

Voicemark(also: Voice Bookmark, Audio Bookmark)

A navigable audio marker or bookmark that allows users to quickly locate and access specific sections of web content or documents through speech or keyboard interaction. Voicemarks are created by analyzing and labeling content segments, then storing these labeled references in a…

Volunteered Geographic Information(also: VGI, Citizen-Generated Geospatial Data)

Geographic information voluntarily created and shared by citizens, often using GPS-enabled smartphones, mapping tools, and online platforms. VGI enables large-scale collection of spatial data at low cost through citizen participation. In accessibility contexts, VGI includes…

WCAG 2.4 Navigable(also: Guideline 2.4, Navigable Guideline)

A guideline within the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) under the Operable principle that requires web content to provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are. Its success criteria address bypass blocks (skip navigation links), page…

Walkability Index(also: Walk Score, Walkability Score, Pedestrian Accessibility Index)

A numerical metric that quantifies how walkable a neighborhood or location is based on the proximity and density of destinations reachable on foot, such as grocery stores, schools, parks, restaurants, and transit stops. Services like walkscore.com have made walkability indices…

Wayfinding(also: Navigation, Orientation and mobility)

The process by which people orient themselves in physical or digital spaces, determine their destination, and navigate a route to reach it. Wayfinding encompasses the cognitive, sensory, and physical strategies people use to understand where they are, where they need to go, and…