User-centered system design for assisted navigation of visually impaired individuals in outdoor cultural environments

A route planning framework for smart wearable assistive navigation systems

“…The proposed framework has been implemented as a module to be integrated in the ENORASI system, aiming to the navigation of people with disabilities, such as the VIIs, in outdoor cultural spaces [15,16]. Future work includes Table 7 Experimental results under various validation scenarios: the cumulative tour collision risk indicates the sum of the collision risk factor of the generated route; the tour duration is given in time periods and shows the duration that the user needs to walk the generated route; and the number of route changes indicates how many times the user should perform a turn while walking the generated route 7 Results of total collision risk (CR) factor of the generated routes by each model Fig.…”

“…Another important term that is being optimized by the INLP model is the route smoothness term. The route smoothness term avoids the abrupt and repetitive route deviations and changes since people with disabilities, such as the VIIs, should always feel safe, walking on as straight routes as possible, making it easier to maintain their orientation [15,16]. Also, the cultural experience term maximizes the cultural experience of the visitor by penalizing the multiple crossovers of paths, especially of the ones with low cultural value.…”

“…It is worth noting that recent studies have shown that it is important for the VIIs to be able to personally visit the cultural spaces [16,17], as this can provide them with a personal experience through non-visual interactions with the environment, e.g., by touching the marbles of an ancient monument and exploring in person with realtime descriptions the cultural spaces, and thus prevent their marginalization from social activities. It should also be noted that legislations, policies and initiatives toward an inclusive society have been established in the last decades, to reinforce the opportunities of individuals with disabilities for equal participation to social life, education and culture.…”

“…It should also be noted that legislations, policies and initiatives toward an inclusive society have been established in the last decades, to reinforce the opportunities of individuals with disabilities for equal participation to social life, education and culture. The visits to cultural spaces can also be considered as a means of lifelong learning, which can be beneficial especially to those who experience difficulties in adapting to formal learning environments, including the VIIs [16,17]. Τo support the accessibility of the VIIs to cultural information and to allow them to sense the 'interactive nature' of a cultural visit, cultural experience aspects have been incorporated in the proposed model.…”

“…1). This module is developed in accordance with the users' requirements of visually impaired individuals [16] to provide assistive navigation with emphasis to outdoor cultural spaces, such as the Ancient Market in the Historical Triangle of Athens in Greece. The RP module interacts with another module of the assistive system, dedicated to obstacle detection (OD).…”