An Audio-Haptic Mobile Guide for Non-Visual Navigation and Orientation

Abstract:
People who have visual impairments may have difficulties navigating freely and without personal assistance, and some are even afraid to go out alone. Current navigation devices with non-visual feedback are quite expensive, few, and are in general focused on routing and target finding. We have developed a test prototype application for Android in which a user may scan for map information using the mobile phone as a pointing device to orient herself and to choose targets for navigation and be guided to them. It has previously been shown that scanning for and pointing at potential points of interest and receiving information about them works, however, there is still an issue about how to combine direction information with overview information, particularly in a non-visual use situation.