Towards human-centered support for indoor navigation

Abstract

This paper presents a new perspective for the design of indoor navigation support. In contrast to technology oriented approaches coming from Context Awareness research, we argue for a wider focus that complements the technical question of providing precise indoor location with the development of more effective navigation practices based on technology available today. Starting from research on indoor navigation conducted with the Paris Fire Brigade, we present two design concepts aimed at supporting firefighters in creating and finding their own paths, together with some of the design strategies that informed the creation of these concepts.

How the internet of things technology enhances emergency response operations

“…The IoT technology provides a global and real-time solution for monitoring, tracing and tracking resources and personnel on the scene, even inside a premise or on the way to the scene. This solution not only works in outdoor environments with high-visibility, but also in indoor environments in poor-visibility conditions [77]. Therefore the IoT technology offers accurate and real-time accountability of resources and personnel to ER operations.…”

Letting tools talk

“…In our future work we hope to reify the identified qualities and produce a ground for a solid set of interaction mechanisms as part of a system providing support in indoor navigation [6] for firefighters working on the first line of intervention.…”

Talking about implications for design in pattern language

“…Following an action research approach, we also introduced new computing systems and changed the existing practice to learn from the effects about the inner workings of the practice. In close participation with users, industry stakeholders and researchers, we focused our design efforts on a system to support navigation in low visibility conditions [31]. All workshops were captured using photos, videos, audio recordings and notes.…”