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• "Pray Before You Step Out": Describing Personal and Situational Blind Navigation Behaviors

  Michele A. Williams, Amy Hurst, Shaun K. Kane · 2013 · Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a formative study exploring how 30 adults with vision impairments use technology and personal strategies to navigate both indoor and outdoor environments. Rather than introducing new navigation technology, the research aims to build a richer understanding of…

  visual impairment · blindness · navigation · orientation and mobility · wayfinding

• Automated Description Generation for Indoor Floor Maps

  Devi A. Paladugu, Hima Bindu Maguluri, Qiongjie Tian, Baoxin Li · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This demonstration paper presents a prototype system that automatically generates verbal descriptions of indoor floor maps to support navigation for people with visual impairments. The system addresses a practical gap: while tools like canes, guide dogs, and GPS devices help…

  visual impairment · indoor navigation · wayfinding · image processing · floor plans

• Exploration and Avoidance of Surrounding Obstacles for the Visually Impaired

  Limin Zeng, Denise Prescher, Gerhard Weber · 2012 · Proceedings of the 14th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2012)

  This paper presents the 3DOD (3D Obstacle Detector), a wearable system that combines a 3D Time-of-Flight (TOF) camera with a portable multi-line refreshable Braille display to help blind pedestrians detect and avoid obstacles beyond the reach of a white cane. White canes detect…

  blindness · obstacle detection · electronic travel aid · haptic feedback · tactile display

• An Integrated System for Blind Day-to-Day Life Autonomy

  Hugo Fernandes, José Faria, Hugo Paredes, João Barroso · 2011 · Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This demonstration paper presents nav4b, an integrated system designed to support the day-to-day autonomy of blind people by combining indoor/outdoor navigation guidance with object recognition in a single platform. Unlike existing solutions that require users to carry multiple…

  blindness · navigation · RFID · object recognition · white cane

• StopFinder: Improving the Experience of Blind Public Transit Riders with Crowdsourcing

  Sanjana Prasain · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents StopFinder, a mobile system that uses crowdsourcing to collect and provide information about non-visual landmarks around bus stops for blind public transit riders. The research addresses a fundamental challenge: while people who are blind…

  blindness and low vision · crowdsourcing · navigation · public transportation · mobile accessibility

• Situation-based Indoor Wayfinding System for the Visually Impaired

  Eunjeong Ko, Jin Sun Ju, Eun Yi Kim · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents an indoor wayfinding system for visually impaired people that uses situation-aware color codes affixed to building walls to guide users to destinations in unfamiliar environments. The key innovation is a situation-based approach: rather than providing all…

  blindness and low vision · indoor navigation · wayfinding · computer vision · assistive technology

• Supporting Spatial Awareness and Independent Wayfinding for Pedestrians with Visual Impairments

  Rayoung Yang, Sangmi Park, Sonali R. Mishra, Zhenan Hong, Clint Newsom, Hyeon Joo, Erik Hofer, Mark W. Newman · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents Talking Points 3 (TP3), a location- and orientation-aware smartphone system designed to increase the "legibility" of indoor environments for pedestrians with visual impairments, fostering spatial awareness rather than simply providing turn-by-turn directions.…

  blindness and low vision · wayfinding · indoor navigation · spatial cognition · mobile accessibility

• Improving Public Transit Accessibility for Blind Riders: A Train Station Navigation Assistant

  Markus Guentert · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This short paper presents a prototype iPhone application designed to help blind people navigate inside train stations — an environment where GPS is unavailable and orientation is particularly challenging. The author's motivation comes from interviews with blind users and a…

  blindness · indoor navigation · public transit · iPhone · wayfinding

• Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help (NOAH) for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study

  Pooja Viswanathan, James J. Little, Alan K. Mackworth, Alex Mihailidis · 2011 · The Proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2011)

  This paper describes NOAH (Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Help), an intelligent powered wheelchair system designed to provide adaptive navigation assistance to older adults with cognitive impairment in long-term care settings. An estimated 60-80% of residents in long-term…

  intelligent wheelchair · dementia · cognitive impairment · collision avoidance · wayfinding

• Orienting Kinesthetically: A Haptic Handheld Wayfinder for People with Visual Impairments

  Tomohiro Amemiya, Hisashi Sugiyama · 2010 · ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing

  This paper presents a novel haptic direction indicator that provides real-time navigational guidance through kinesthetic cues rather than audio or vibrotactile feedback. The device exploits a perceptual phenomenon called the "pseudo-attraction force technique": by generating…

  haptic feedback · wayfinding · navigation · orientation and mobility · blindness

• Accessible Indoor Navigation

  Kyle Montague · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This doctoral consortium paper presents early-stage research on designing an accessible indoor navigation application for disabled users. Montague identifies a key gap: while outdoor navigation benefits from GPS, indoor wayfinding remains a significant challenge because GPS is…

  indoor navigation · wayfinding · adaptive interface · mobile accessibility · assistive technology

• LocalEyes: Accessible GPS and Points of Interest

  Jason Behmer, Stillman Knox · 2010 · Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This student research paper presents LocalEyes, an open-source Android application that provides accessible GPS and points-of-interest information for blind and low-vision users. The authors identify that existing accessible GPS devices like the Trekker Talking GPS cost between…

  visual impairment · GPS navigation · mobile accessibility · points of interest · wayfinding

• Getting mobile with mobile devices: using the web to improve transit accessibility

  Darren Minifie, Yvonne Coady · 2009 · Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A)

  This paper proposes a mobile web-based architecture for making public transit accessible to blind and visually impaired travelers. Drawing on direct feedback from the blind community (including one of the authors, who is visually impaired), the paper identifies four key barriers…

  mobile accessibility · public transportation · visual impairment · blindness · GPS

• MGuider: Mobile Guiding and Tracking System in Public Transit System for Individuals with Cognitive Impairments

  Wei-Hsun Chen · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents MGuider, a mobile guiding and tracking system designed to help individuals with cognitive impairments navigate public transit systems independently. Developed in collaboration with NGOs running supported employment programs in Taipei, Taiwan, the system…

  cognitive accessibility · wayfinding · mobile technology · public transit · assistive technology

• Haptic Handheld Wayfinder with Pseudo-Attraction Force for Pedestrians with Visual Impairments

  Tomohiro Amemiya, Hisashi Sugiyama · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents a compact handheld haptic device that guides visually impaired pedestrians by generating a directional force sensation — a feeling of being pulled or pushed toward the correct direction. The device exploits a perceptual phenomenon called "pseudo-attraction…

  haptic technology · wayfinding · visual impairment · navigation · kinesthetic perception

• Customizing Directions in an Automated Wayfinding System for Individuals with Cognitive Impairment

  Alan L. Liu, Harlan Hile, Gaetano Borriello, Pat A. Brown, Mark Harniss, Henry Kautz, Kurt Johnson · 2009 · Proceedings of the 11th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '09)

  This paper presents the design and evaluation of a mobile wayfinding system that provides customized navigation directions to individuals with cognitive impairments such as traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disability. The central innovation is using a…

  cognitive impairment · wayfinding · navigation · mobile technology · Markov decision process

• A context aware handheld wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments

  Yao-Jen Chang, Shih-Kai Tsai, Tsen-Yung Wang · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents a context-aware wayfinding system designed to help individuals with cognitive impairments navigate indoor environments independently, with a focus on workplace and community travel. The system consists of three components: a handheld PDA (ASUS P525 with…

  cognitive disability · wayfinding · QR code · ubiquitous computing · navigation

• RouteCheckr: Personalized Multicriteria Routing for Mobility Impaired Pedestrians

  Thorsten Völkel, Gerhard Weber · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08)

  This paper presents RouteCheckr, a client/server system for personalised pedestrian navigation that calculates routes optimised for multiple criteria relevant to mobility impaired users. The authors identify three key shortcomings of existing navigation systems: map data…

  navigation · wayfinding · wheelchair accessibility · visual impairment · mobility

• A Novel Wayfinding System Based on Geo-coded QR Codes for Individuals with Cognitive Impairments

  Yao-Jen Chang, Shih-Kai Tsai, Yao-Sheng Chang, Tsen-Yung Wang · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This paper presents a wayfinding prototype system that uses geo-coded QR codes placed at decision points along routes to provide just-in-time navigation directions to people with cognitive impairments. Developed by researchers at Chung Yuan Christian University, National Chiao…

  cognitive impairment · wayfinding · QR code · navigation · ubiquitous computing

• Accessible spaces: navigating through a marked environment with a camera phone

  Kee-Yip Chan, Roberto Manduchi, James Coughlan · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '07)

  This short Assets '07 demonstration paper from UC Santa Cruz and the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute describes a camera-phone-based wayfinding system for blind travellers. The core idea is to deploy small, cheap, pie-shaped colour markers in an environment — on walls,…

  wayfinding · navigation · blindness · visual impairment · computer vision

• WADER: a novel wayfinding system with deviation recovery for individuals with cognitive impairments

  Shih-Kai Tsai · 2007 · Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '07)

  This short ASSETS 2007 poster paper from Shih-Kai Tsai at Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan presents WADER (Wayfinding system with DEviation Recovery), a prototype indoor wayfinding system aimed at individuals with cognitive impairments — explicitly named populations…

  wayfinding · indoor navigation · QR code · cognitive accessibility · cognitive disabilities

• Indoor Wayfinding: Developing a Functional Interface for Individuals with Cognitive Impairments

  Alan L. Liu, Harlan Hile, Henry Kautz, Gaetano Borriello, Pat A. Brown, Mark Harniss, Kurt Johnson · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper from the University of Washington describes the design and user evaluation of an indoor wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments, including traumatic brain injury, Down syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, and cerebral palsy. Rather than…

  cognitive impairment · wayfinding · indoor navigation · wizard of oz · multimodal interface

• A Rollator-Mounted Wayfinding System for the Elderly: A Smart World Perspective

  Aliasgar Kutiyanawala, Vladimir Kulyukin, Edmund LoPresti · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper presents the iWalker, a rollator-mounted wayfinding system designed to help elderly individuals with cognitive and visual impairments navigate indoor environments independently. The system adopts a "smart world" perspective, where intelligence is distributed between…

  wayfinding · aging · assistive technology · robotics · cognitive impairment

• Introduction to the Talking Points Project

  Scott Gifford, Jim Knox, Jonathan James, Atul Prakash · 2006 · Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '06)

  This paper introduces the Talking Points project from the University of Michigan, a system that attaches digital information to physical places and objects using passive RFID tags, creating an accessible "augmented reality" for blind and visually impaired users. The motivation…

  visual impairment · RFID · wayfinding · location awareness · ubiquitous computing

• Talking Braille: A Wireless Ubiquitous Computing Network for Orientation and Wayfinding

  David A. Ross, Alexander Lightman · 2005 · Proceedings of the 7th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '05)

  This paper presents the design and initial evaluation of the Talking Braille system, a wireless ubiquitous computing network designed to help people with vision loss navigate indoor public spaces. The system is built around the "Cyber Crumb" concept: tiny, inexpensive…

  wayfinding · orientation · blindness · ubiquitous computing · indoor navigation