For those with disabilities, navigating an unfamiliar environment presents special difficulties. With the use of efficient wayfinding technology, those who are blind, deafblind, visually impaired, or have limited vision, as well as those who use wheelchairs, can walk more independently throughout cities. The National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC) has published a new paper that examines how to use low-cost techniques to make it easier for people to move around public, urban indoor and outdoor spaces.
Focus groups, two case studies, and an in-person organized navigation experience on the PSU campus were utilized in the project, which was directed by Martin Swobodzinski and Amy Parker of Portland State University, to determine the most practical means of navigating the area. It was discovered that tactile maps were a very helpful tool, and an accessible mobile app also showed promise as an assistance for movement and direction.
In a free webinar on December 15 titled “Individual Wayfinding in the Context of Visual Impairment, Blindness, and Deafblindness,” the researcher will provide additional information about this topic.
Improvements in employment outcomes, more access to higher education, and greater quality of life have all been related to environments and navigational resources that facilitate safe, confident mobility. The findings of this study contribute to our growing understanding of how blind and visually impaired people navigate their surroundings. As it relates to the integration of indoor and outdoor navigation, as well as routing for visually impaired, blind, and deafblind pedestrian passengers, researchers are confident that the study’s insights will promote the establishment of standards and innovation in mobile wayfinding.
While there are many navigation apps available, their usefulness for travelers is still rather constrained. This study provided a voice to various travelers’ experiences using navigation devices to complete significant daily chores. Researchers expect that the study of the remaining data will further knowledge of the information requirements of visually impaired, blind, and deafblind pedestrian travelers in addition to the results covered in greater depth below.
Three questions were addressed by the project:
- What are the preferences, information requirements, and expectations of people who are visually impaired, blind, or deafblind when it comes to navigating public indoor and outdoor spaces?
- How can low-cost wayfinding technology—such as digital maps, spatial data, mobile phones, and low-energy beacons—be used to the best advantage to facilitate pedestrian travelers with functional disabilities’ easy wayfinding in public urban indoor and outdoor spaces?
- Which data products, technology platforms, and wayfinding systems allow for a long-term, scalable deployment in a sizable academic setting?
Navigating college campuses is notoriously difficult, especially for visitors with visual impairments. The inability of individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to consider themselves as complete members of the college campus community is one of the major obstacles to attending higher education. The PSU campus was the best location for this experiment because it offers realistic wayfinding scenarios and mobility issues in a public metropolitan area. It is a public university located in the center of Portland. Additionally, the project’s objectives of encouraging community participation and access line up with PSU’s dedication to community service, equity, and inclusivity.
Wayfinding aids for people with visual impairments in real-world settings: A literature assessment of recent studies was the first step the researchers took in their research.
A case study
An adult who is deaf-blind was the only participant in the team’s initial pilot case study. The full results of that case study were released in the journal Frontiers in Education: An urban college campus’s seamless navigation by a deafblind adult A case study on performance, information preferences, and technology needs The participant used a smartphone app, textual instructions, or a tactile map to complete three journeys around the PSU campus. The tactile map provided the highest wayfinding performance, confidence, and satisfaction, as well as the quickest completion time for this participant, while the mobile app had the lowest confidence and wayfinding performance.
In a second case study, a traveler with a combined vision and hearing disability worked as an O&M specialist who assisted people with visual impairments throughout several states. The research team used this participant’s professional and personal experiences to further improve their testing procedure. The project’s original intent was to contrast three different types of navigational aids, including tactile maps, spoken directions, and the iPhone and Android navigation app “GoodMaps.” The researchers changed the next stage of the experiment without explicit instructions in response to this participant’s ideas.
Experiment with wayfinding
In a larger study, participants were asked to take part in a series of navigation exercises that involved completing three brief routes around campus that contained both indoor and outdoor components. Participants were instructed to take two distinct routes while using one of two potential wayfinding technology supports: a tactile map for one route and the GoodMaps mobile app for the other, while being accompanied by an experimenter with experience in orientation and mobility.
28 individuals—21 teenagers (between the ages of 14 and 18) and seven adults—participated in the experiment and the primary data gathering phase of the study. People of color, LGBTQIA+ folks, and those with various degrees of visual impairment were among the participants. The research team’s urgent next step is to compile individual-level data for each of the 28 individuals and code and evaluate their observed wayfinding technology performance and behavior. The 28 participants’ data are still being analyzed, but preliminary results from the two case studies show that the tactile map provided the best wayfinding support.
The focus groups
Two focus groups were held, one with eight blind or visually impaired people who were hearing-unimpaired and the other with nine deafblind participants who used tactile American Sign Language or close-range visual American Sign Language. The two focus groups’ collective topics included both the potential of wayfinding technology apps to promote increased environmental literacy while traveling in the real world and its drawbacks.
Due to the apps’ specific constraints on changing travel circumstances, both groups agreed that it was essential for travelers with visual impairments to be involved in the app design process. Because each app is only suitable for a certain set of wayfinding activities, using many applications to accomplish a single trip emerged as a common theme among visually impaired travelers.
In the free, online publication published by Frontiers in Education, the findings from the focus group with participants who are deafblind are further described. Focus group findings on how deafblind travelers utilize navigation apps in metropolitan settings
This study is the result of various creative collaborations. Martin Swobodzinski, the project’s principal investigator and an associate professor of geography at PSU, is an expert in human wayfinding, the acquisition of spatial information, accessibility, and human-computer interaction. Electronic Wayfinding for Visually Impaired Travelers: Limitations and Opportunities, an NITC Small Starts project that he co-authored with Amy Parker of PSU’s Special Education Department, marked the start of their work on this project in 2017. The latest effort broadens that investigation.
The PSU Orientation and Mobility Program, which was established in 2017 to train specialists in orientation and mobility (O&M), is coordinated by Parker. The program has been the driving force behind a number of initiatives, such as engaging O&M seminars in collaboration with TriMet and a new conference in Portland called the Mobility Matters Summit, which will be conducted for the fifth time in 2022.
Swobodzinski, Parker, graduate students in geography and special education, as well as Elizabeth Schaller and Denise Snow from the American Printing House for the Blind, were all part of the interdisciplinary research team. The American Printing House for the Blind developed GoodMaps, the mobile wayfinding technology tool utilized in the study. Intel developers and GoodMaps collaborated to improve the accuracy of spatial data.
The GoodMaps team started using Lidar technology to scan PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union in May 2021. In order to welcome interested students and staff with visual impairments for an informal assessment of the technology installation within SMSU in November of that same year, GoodMaps partnered with PSU’s Disability Resource Center. The improved GoodMaps installation was prepared for test evaluation by research participants in December 2021.
The goal of Portland State University’s Digital City Testbed Center (DCTC) is to create a network of campuses throughout the Pacific Northwest where smart city technologies can be tested before being implemented in larger areas. Julie Wright, a graduate research assistant, was able to be hired and assist with the completion of project deliverables and milestones thanks to DCTC funding for this project.
The American Printing House for the Blind, Portland State University’s Digital City Testbed Center, and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities also provided supplementary funding for this study.
