Abstract
The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) obligates States Parties to ensure personal mobility and independence for persons with disabilities by promoting access to and the development of assistive technology (AT)—i.e. products and services that enhance daily living and quality of life for persons with disabilities. Research has examined the experiences of persons with different disabilities using ICT and AT for indoor navigation and wayfinding. However, in the last year, ICT developers have made substantial strides in deploying Internet of Things (IoT) devices as part of indoor network navigation solutions (INNS) for persons with visual impairments. This article asks, ‘To what extent do persons with visual impairments perceive INNS as usable?’ Quantitative and qualitative data from an experimental trial conducted with 36 persons with visual impairments shows that persons with visual impairments largely consider INNS as usable for wayfinding in transportation stations. However, the results also suggest that persons with visual impairments experienced barriers using INNS due to the timing of the instructions. Future research should continue to investigate the usability of INNS for persons with visual impairments and focus specifically on reliability and responsivity of the instruction timing.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
ATIA (2015) What is assistive technology? How is it funded? https://goo.gl/aMvuRz. Accessed 8 Nov 2017
Calori C, Vanden-Eynden D (2015) Signage and wayfinding design: a complete guide to creating environmental graphic design systems. Wiley, Berlin
Carpman JR, Grant MA (2003) Wayfinding: a broad view. In: Bechtel RB, Churchman A (eds) Handbook of environmental psychology. Wiley, USA
Chang Y-J, Tsai S-K, Wang T-Y (2008) A context aware handheld wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments. In: Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on computers and accessibility, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 13–15 October 2008
Cowan RE, Fregly BJ, Boninger ML, Chan L, Rodgers MM, Reinkensmeyer DJ (2012) Recent trends in assistive technology for mobility. J Neuroeng Rehabil 9(1):20
Faria J, Lopes S, Fernandes H, Martins P, Barroso J (2010) Electronic white cane for blind people navigation assistance. In: World Automation Congress (WAC), Kobe, Japan, 19–23 September 2010
Fernandes H, Costa P, Filipe V, Hadjileontiadis L, Barroso J (2010) Stereo vision in blind navigation assistance. In: World Automation Congress (WAC), Kobe, Japan, 19–23 September 2010
Gibson D (2009) The wayfinding handbook: information design for public places. Princeton Architectural Press, USA
Golledge RG (1999) Human wayfinding and cognitive maps. In: Golledge RG (ed) Wayfinding behavior: cognitive mapping and other spatial processes. Johns Hopkins University Press, USA
Hameed O, Iqbal J, Naseem B, Anwar O, Afzal S (2006) Assistive technology-based navigation aid for the visually impaired. In: Proceedings of the 2006 international symposium on practical cognitive agents and robots, Perth, Australia, 27–28 November 2006
Industry Arc (2015) Indoor positioning and navigation market: by system type (satellite based, hybrid, network based, sensors), by application (navigation, positioning, others), by vertical (aviation, advertisement, others), by geography-forecast (2016–2021)
ISO (2002) ISO/TR 16982 Ergonomics of human-system interaction—usability methods supporting human-centred design, ISO
ISO (2010) 9241-210:2010 Ergonomics of human-system interaction, ISO
ITU (2017) F.921 Audio-based network navigation system for persons with vision impairment, ITU
Kulyukin V, Gharpure C, Nicholson J, Osborne G (2006) Robot-assisted wayfinding for the visually impaired in structured indoor environments. Auton Robots 21(1):29–41
Levine SP, Bell DA, Jaros LA, Simpson RC, Koren Y, Borenstein J (1999) The NavChair assistive wheelchair navigation system. IEEE Trans Rehabil Eng 7(4):443–451
Miles MB, Huberman AM (1994) Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Sage Publications, U S A
Munkås Ø (2016) Med ny appteknologi vil de hjelpe deg å finne veien. https://goo.gl/MQPjiR. Accessed 8 Nov 2017
Nielsen J (1994) Usability engineering. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam
Passini R (1996) Wayfinding design: logic, application and some thoughts on universality. Des Stud 17(3):319–331
Ready F (2015) IBeacon helps visually impaired students find their way around Penn State campus. https://goo.gl/ugCTGG. Accessed 8 Nov 2017
Sauro J (2011) Measuring usability with the system usability scale (SUS). https://measuringu.com/sus/
Transport for London (2016) Wayfindr. https://goo.gl/HCuUrM. Accessed 8 Nov 2017
Wayfindr (2017) Wayfindr demo app. https://goo.gl/KnjDBw. Accessed 8 Nov 2017
Yanco HA (1998) Wheelesley: a robotic wheelchair system: indoor navigation and user interface assistive technology and artificial intelligence. In: Mittal V, Yanco H, Aronis J, Simpson R (eds) Lecture notes in artificial intelligence: assistive technology and artificial intelligence—application in robotics, user interfaces and natural language processing. Springer, Berlin, pp 256–268
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Giannoumis, G.A., Ferati, M., Pandya, U., Krivonos, D., Pey, T. (2018). Usability of Indoor Network Navigation Solutions for Persons with Visual Impairments. In: Langdon, P., Lazar, J., Heylighen, A., Dong, H. (eds) Breaking Down Barriers. CWUAAT 2018. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75028-6_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75028-6_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75027-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75028-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)