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All the Way There and Back: Inertial-Based, Phone-in-Pocket Indoor Wayfinding and Backtracking Apps for Blind
Chia Hsuan Tsai1, Fatemeh Elyasi1, Peng Ren1
1University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California, USA.
ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing
|January 27, 2025
Summary
Two new iOS apps assist blind travelers indoors using only smartphone sensors, no extra equipment needed. Wayfinding and Backtracking apps offer route guidance and successful navigation in a user study.
Area of Science:
- Assistive Technology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Navigation Systems
Background:
- Blind individuals face significant challenges navigating complex indoor environments.
- Existing indoor navigation aids often require specialized infrastructure, limiting their accessibility.
- Mobile devices offer potential for personalized and infrastructure-free navigation solutions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and evaluate two novel iOS applications, Wayfinding and Backtracking, designed for indoor navigation assistance for blind travelers.
- To assess the feasibility of using only smartphone inertial and magnetic sensors for indoor navigation, eliminating the need for external infrastructure.
- To evaluate user interaction and navigation performance through a user study with visually impaired participants.
Main Methods:
- Development of two distinct iOS applications: Wayfinding for real-time route guidance and Backtracking for re-tracing recorded paths.
- Utilized smartphone's built-in inertial and magnetic sensors, avoiding reliance on cameras or external beacons.
- Incorporated smartwatch interaction and speech-based directions for discreet and convenient use.
- Conducted a user study with seven blind participants navigating a campus building using both applications.
Main Results:
- The Wayfinding app enabled participants to successfully complete prescribed routes, with minor adjustments needed for step length measurement accuracy.
- The Backtracking app performed well in most trials, accurately guiding users along recorded paths.
- A small percentage of Backtracking trials (6 out of 21) resulted in temporary loss of location tracking.
Conclusions:
- The developed iOS applications demonstrate a promising infrastructure-free approach to indoor navigation for blind travelers.
- Smartphone sensor-based navigation, combined with smartwatch interaction, offers a practical and accessible solution.
- Further refinement of sensor data processing, particularly step length estimation, can enhance the reliability of such assistive navigation systems.
