Enhancing situational awareness of indoor orientation for the visually impaired

Abstract

This research is to design a user interface dedicated for visually impaired users to assist them when orienting themselves to unfamiliar indoor environments. Current orientation and navigation systems research focuses on providing feasible solutions to assist users, however less focus is given to the user interface level and how it enhances user's understanding of the surrounding environment. Our proposal is to apply the Situation Awareness Oriented design approach to enhance the user interface of the current indoor navigation systems for the visually impaired.

Visually impaired orientation techniques in unfamiliar indoor environments

“…This challenge can be greater in unfamiliar indoor environments that are changing constantly as well as in environments where obtaining auditory and tactile cues are difficult. In our previous paper [1], we highlighted our goal of developing a user interface to support assistive technology to aid target users with the non-visual cues needed for orientation and situational awareness. Toward our goal, we have conducted three user studies to realize user needs and experiences, as well as to elicit initial requirements that can guide our design process [2].…”