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Advances in Design for Inclusion pp 213–223Cite as

Using a Mobile Application to Help Visually Impaired Individuals Explore the Outdoors

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Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 500))

Abstract

Visually impaired individuals face a variety of challenges when navigating outdoors, including uneven terrain, unexpected obstacles, safety concerns, and reliance on others for information. The goal of this study was to understand further the navigational needs of visually impaired individuals and to develop a mid-fidelity prototype to address these needs. Through interviews with visually impaired users and accessibility professionals, researchers found that present technology leads to an incomplete understanding of the trail and harmful situations. Currently, there is no known technology available that integrates real-time updates with static trail information for individuals navigating outdoors. In response, a mobile prototype was proposed, integrating user-provided updates with static trail information in a format that caters to all users. Our usability testing showed visually impaired users made few errors using the prototype and were satisfied with their experience.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, 23529, VA, USA

    Shelby K. Long, Nicole D. Karpinsky & Jeremiah D. Still

  2. Department of Educational Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Çankaya/Ankara, Turkey

    Hilal Döner

Authors
  1. Shelby K. Long
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  2. Nicole D. Karpinsky
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  3. Hilal Döner
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  4. Jeremiah D. Still
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shelby K. Long .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Chieti-Pescara , Pescara, Chieti, Italy

    Giuseppe Di Bucchianico

  2. EIDD - Design for All Europe , Oliveto Lario, Italy

    Pete Kercher

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Long, S.K., Karpinsky, N.D., Döner, H., Still, J.D. (2016). Using a Mobile Application to Help Visually Impaired Individuals Explore the Outdoors. In: Di Bucchianico, G., Kercher, P. (eds) Advances in Design for Inclusion. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 500. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41962-6_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41962-6_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41961-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-41962-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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