An IOS Based Indoor Wayfinding Application for People with Navigational Disabilities

An IOS Based Indoor Wayfinding Application for People with Navigational Disabilities
Author: Taha Hasan Syed
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre: Electronic dissertations
ISBN:

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Navigation has become an integral part of today's society. Many people use devices such as smartphones to get direction in and out of unfamiliar environments. People have come to rely on these devices as it helps them get to their destination with ease. However, there are limitations when it comes to navigating indoors when compared to outdoors. The technology used for outdoor navigation becomes inaccurate when it comes to indoor navigation. The problem escalates when people with navigation impairments such as blindness or mobility impairment are unable to follow a route to get to their destination that's indoors. Such unreliability causes inconvenience and losses to clients. This thesis showcases a navigation application using called CityGuide which is an iOS based indoor way finding solution that can help people navigate indoor environments with ease. The application targets accessibility groups such as people with visual impairments and people with mobility impairment, by providing them with a rich user experience while it tries to direct them to their destination. The project uses a localized server in order to have complete control over the data being transferred to and from the application making the app more independent and the hardware installation cheaper for the long term. The app uses algorithms and approaches to find the shortest path to the destination and also applies additional features such as haptic feedback, re-routing function, instructional dictation of the path and by being voice over friendly. The navigation model introduced is reliable, cheap, and easy to install and allows organizations to implement better accessibility features in their indoor space.

Indoor Wayfinding and Navigation

Indoor Wayfinding and Navigation
Author: Hassan A. Karimi
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2015-03-25
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1482230852

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Due to the widespread use of navigation systems for wayfinding and navigation in the outdoors, researchers have devoted their efforts in recent years to designing navigation systems that can be used indoors. This book is a comprehensive guide to designing and building indoor wayfinding and navigation systems. It covers all types of feasible sensors (for example, Wi-Fi, A-GPS), discussing the level of accuracy, the types of map data needed, the data sources, and the techniques for providing routes and directions within structures.

Navigation Instruction Validation Tool and Indoor Wayfinding Training System for People with Disabilities

Navigation Instruction Validation Tool and Indoor Wayfinding Training System for People with Disabilities
Author: Linlin Ding
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

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According to World Health Survey, there are 785 million (15.6%) people in the world that live with a disability. It is a well-known fact that lack of access to public transportation is a barrier for people with disabilities in seeking work or accessing health care. In this research, we seek to increase access to public transportation by introducing a virtual pre-travel training system that enables people with disabilities to get familiar with a public transportation venue prior to arriving at the venue. Using this system, users establish a mental map of the target environment prior to their arrival to the physical space, increasing their confidence and therefore increasing their chances of using public transportation. First, we have to guarantee that all navigation instructions sent to our training system are correct. Since the number of navigation instruction increases dramatically, instruction validation becomes a challenge. We propose a video game based validation tool which includes a game scene that represents in 2D the physical environment and uses a game avatar to verify the navigation instructions automatically in the game scene. The avatar traverses the virtual space following the corresponding navigation instructions. Only in case that it successfully reaches the planned destination, the current navigation instruction can be considered as correct. Then, we introduce a virtual reality based pre-travel wayfinding training system to assist people with disabilities to get familiar with a venue prior to their arrival at the physical space, which provides two modes: 1) Self-Guided mode in which the path between a source and a destination is shown to the user from third person perspective, and 2) Exploration mode in which the user explores and interacts with the environment. In the end, we have implemented visual analytics tools that track and evaluate trainees' performance and help us optimize the game. These tools identify the difficulties faced by the trainees as well as obtain overall statistics on the trainees' behavior in the indoor environment, helping us understand how to modify the system and adjust it to different classes of disabilities.

Comprehensive Navigation Framework for Seniors and People with Disabilities

Comprehensive Navigation Framework for Seniors and People with Disabilities
Author: Hao Dong
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

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Finding the path to a destination is an indispensable skill in our daily life. Thanks to the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), navigation systems such as Google Map facilitates this task very well for the uses of vehicle and pedestrian in outdoor environments. However, due to the lack of indoor localization solution, the navigation system for the indoor environment still remains in the realm of research. On the other hand, indoor wayfinding tasks become not trivial anymore, because of the intricate structure of modern buildings with vast information, especially for seniors and the visually impaired. In this dissertation, we introduce a navigation framework to provide an affordable solution to both the travelers and the venue providers. The framework provides a solution in two phases of an upcoming trip. The first phase is a Virtual Reality (VR) pre-travel training system allowing the travelers to learn the structure, functionalities, and necessary cues for wayfinding in the target environment prior to the physical visit. A novel approach to represent a virtual environment of the physical space was proposed and implemented in this system. It leverages a computer vision-based solution to Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) to enable panoramic videos for immersive annotation in VR. Based on the performance tests in 3 different indoor environments, we show that the total preparation time to deploy this system in a new environment is proportional to the length of the recording path of panoramic videos at a rate of less than a minute per meter. This is a significant reduction compared to traditional 3D modeling approaches. While the cost savings are substantial, the framework enables the users to explore the virtual environment only along the recorded paths. The author envisions that this is sufficient for the purpose of learning an unfamiliar environment. The second phase is a wayfinding assistance system providing on-site guidance through a mobile application when the user arrives at the target building in person. This system can provide the user's current location and orientation, navigation instructions to a chosen destination, and other contextual information in the environment. The deployment process utilizes a Structure-from-Motion (SfM) pipeline to generate a spatial map for localization. The video recordings collected for the pre-travel training system can be reused as parts of the input in this process. With the performance tests in the three testing environments, it shows that in contrast to the pre-travel training system, the total processing time is approximately proportional to the coverage area. Every 3 square meters will take about 1 minute. A novel multi-layer graph-based data structure is also proposed and implemented to organize the building information and expedite the navigation instruction generation. A human trial with 9 participants using this system was also conducted in the Campus Center of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Beacon-based Wayfinding for People with Disabilities

Beacon-based Wayfinding for People with Disabilities
Author: Seyed Ali Cheraghi
Publisher:
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2019
Genre: Electronic dissertations
ISBN:

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There are currently few options for navigational aids for people with disabilities, specially those who are the blind and visually impaired (BVI) in indoor spaces and around buildings. Indoor environments can be geographically large and intimidating such as grocery stores, airports, sports stadiums, large office buildings, and hotels. Thus, reading and following signs still remains the most common mechanism for providing and receiving wayfinding information in such spaces. Such indoor spaces can be difficult to navigate even for those without disabilities if they are disoriented due to unfamiliarity or other reasons. This dissertation presents a wayfinding system called Guide- Beacon that can be used by BVI individuals to navigate their surroundings beyond what is possible with just a GPS based system. The GuideBeacon system allows users equipped with smartphones to interact with Bluetooth-based beacons deployed strategically within the indoor space of interest to navigate their surroundings. A major challenge in deploying such beacon-based navigation systems is the need to employ a time and labor-expensive beacon planning process to identify potential beacon placement locations and arrive at a topological structure representing the indoor space. Thus, this work presents a technique called IBeaconMap for creating such topological structures to use with beacon-based navigation. Using GuideBeacon as the underlying layer, this dissertation additionally proposes an inclusive emergency evacuation system called SafeExit4All that empowers people with disabilities (in addition to the general population) to independently find a safe exit under emergency scenarios. Finally, this work describes an indoor-outdoor navigation system called CityGuide which leverages the GuideBeacon in conjunction with GPS signals to enable a BVI individual to query and get turn-by-turn shortest route directions from an indoor location to their desired destination outdoor.

Assistive Technology: Shaping a Sustainable and Inclusive World

Assistive Technology: Shaping a Sustainable and Inclusive World
Author: D. Archambault
Publisher: IOS Press
Total Pages: 618
Release: 2023-11-09
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 164368423X

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Caring about others and the future is part of what makes us human, and it can be argued that improving the lives of people with disabilities improves the lives of all human beings. Most of what we do as a society for people with disabilities also improves life for others, and if we consider a person’s entire life, a disability of some kind will affect almost everybody at some point. This book, Assistive Technology: Shaping a Sustainable and Inclusive World, presents the proceedings of AAATE 2023, the 17th International Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe, held in Aubervilliers, France, from 30 August to 1 September 2023. For over 30 years, the biennial AAATE conference has focused on research aimed at improving the lives of people with a disability, and has become one of the main platforms for all stakeholders in the field. A total of 123 papers were submitted in the category intended for publication in these conference proceedings, and after a rigorous process involving review by at least three international reviewers, 74 were selected for inclusion here. Topics covered include service delivery of AT; AT for various groups such as older adults, children, and those with cognitive disabilities; mobility; privacy and security issues; and AT to promote inclusion and facilitate participation in education, culture, and work. Providing a comprehensive and current overview, the book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, manufacturers, decision-makers and providers, users of AT, and anyone else working in the field.

The Application of Geographic Information Systems to Support Wayfinding for People with Visual Impairments Or Blindness

The Application of Geographic Information Systems to Support Wayfinding for People with Visual Impairments Or Blindness
Author: Susanne Zimmermann-Janschitz
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN:

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People with visual impairments or legal blindness are relying on differing, comprehensive information utilized for their individual mobility. Increasing the personal mobility of people with disabilities and thereby achieving a self-determined life are major steps toward a more inclusive society. Research and applications on mobility issues of people with visual impairments or blindness mainly focus on technical applications or assistive orientation and navigation devices, and less work is covering the individual needs, e.g., regarding the information required for wayfinding. Moreover, active participation of people with disabilities in research and development is still limited. ways2see offers a new online application to support individual mobility in context of pre-trip planning for people with visual impairments or blindness based on a Geographic Information System (GIS). Obstacles, barriers, landmarks, orientation hints, and directions for wayfinding are generated by user profiles. The underlying network for GIS analysis is designed as pedestrian network. This individually coded network approach integrates sidewalks and different types of crossings and implements various orientation and navigation attributes. ways2see integrates three research realms: firstly, implementing a participative and transdisciplinary research design; secondly, integrating personalized information aligned with the individual user needs; and thirdly, presenting result of GIS analysis through an accessible designed user interface.

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology
Author: C. Sik-Lányi
Publisher: IOS Press
Total Pages: 1112
Release: 2015-08-27
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1614995664

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Assistive Technology (AT) is the term used to describe products or technology-based services which support those with disabilities or other limitations to their daily activities, enabling them to enjoy a better quality of life. This book presents the proceedings of the 13th European Conference on the Advancement of Assistive Technology (AAATE 2015), held in Budapest, Hungary in September 2015. This biennial conference has established itself as a leading forum in the transdisciplinary area of Assistive Technology, providing a unique platform for the gathering of experts from around the world to review progress and challenges in the interdisciplinary fields which contribute to AT, such as research, development, manufacturing, supply, provision and policy. The theme of the 2015 conference is 'Attracting new areas and building bridges', and this book contains 138 reviewed papers and 28 poster presentations delivered at the conference, covering AT themes as diverse as aging, blindness, mobility, assisted living and accessibility for people with dementia and cognitive impairment. Offering a current overview of many aspects of AT, this book will be of interest to all those – from researchers and manufacturers to healthcare professionals and end-users – whose work or daily life involves the relationship between technology and disability.

Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction

Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction
Author: Yuko Murayama
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2020-06-04
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3030489396

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This volume constitutes the refereed and revised post-conference proceedings of the 4th IFIP TC 5 DCITDRR International Conference on Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction, ITDRR 2019, in Kyiv, Ukraine, in October 2019. The 17 full papers and 2 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 53 submissions. The papers focus on various aspects and challenges of coping with disaster risk reduction. The main topics include areas such as natural disasters, big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, mobile computing, emergency management, disaster information processing, and disaster risk assessment and management.