Indoor Navigation / Wayfinding Issue Paper

Introduction

This document is an issue paper about indoor navigation. It helps people orient themselves, explore, and navigate through buildings such as museums, hospitals, airports, and public transportation stations. Indoor navigation has come to be known as wayfinding. It is separate from outdoor navigation, such as via global positioning systems (GPS), primarily because GPS do not function inside buildings. See [reference and link to GPS navigation issue paper].

Challenges for people with cognitive disabilities

Difficulty with wayfinding by people with cognitive disabilities ranges from minimal to extreme. They may need minimal help to navigate an indoor location, or they may need more help, such as detailed, step-by-step directions. This can have an impact on people with impairments of:

• memory;
• executive function;
• attention;
• perception processing; and/or
• knowledge.

Memory

People with cognitive disabilities may have to:

• recall where they have been to orient themselves to where they are (spatial awareness);
• review a proposed route many times to understand how to follow it;
• repeat aloud or otherwise reiterate a route multiple times to retain it; and/or
• return to reviewing parts of a route when difficulties mean they cannot retain information.

Executive function

People with cognitive disabilities may not:

• sufficiently process / understand proposed routes;
• understand part of a route because they did not understand the part that preceded it;
• be able to plan how to follow a proposed route despite instructions and clues;
• reorient themselves after having their planned route interrupted; and/or
• have a sense of spatial visualization and awareness (where person is and wants to go).

Attention-related limitations

People with cognitive disabilities:

• may not attend to important instructions, clues, and relevant details; and/or
• may be significantly distracted by stimuli occurring around them.

Language-related functions

People with cognitive disabilities may not understand proposed routes because they:

• are confused by instructions presented in their language, but written with vocabulary from a different culture;
• are stymied by too-complex instructions written in their native language; and/or
• may have comprehension problems exacerbated by instructions presented in a non-native language.

Perception-processing limitations

Many people with cognitive disabilities may not:

• understand instructions because they are not literal and presented plainly; and/or
• comprehend instructions sufficiently to adequately follow them.

Reduced knowledge

Some people with cognitive disabilities may not be able to navigate indoors because:

• they are unfamiliar with navigation symbols and terminology;
• they do not have relevant background knowledge; and/or
• background concepts are not explained simply.

Use cases for ...

Other use cases include:

1. mall?^[a]
2. Hospital?
3. restaurant

Scenario 1: Mall

"Trevor is a

Scenario 2: Hospital

"Trevor is a br

Scenario 3: Restaurant

"Trevor is a br

Proposed solutions

Sample Apps

Ease-of-use ideas

Alternative technologies

• BlindSquare - “Pioneering accessible navigation - indoors and outdoors. Know where you are, know where you're going, travel with confidence.”
• Aira -

Research Sources

1. Wayfinding news articles - latest research, products, etc. (John Rochford, 2011 - Now)
2. Accessible Way-Finding using Web Technologies (W3C, 2014)
3. Accessible Way-Finding Using Web Technologies Symposium Home (W3C, 2014)
4. Accessible Way-Finding using Web Technologies Online Symposium 3 (W3C, 2014)
5. Way-finding systems (W3C, 2014)
6. Extended Abstract for the RDWG Symposium on Accessible Way-Finding Using Web Technologies, Accessible Wayfinding Ontologies for People with Disabilities (W3C, 2014)
7. Geo-fencing (to address wandering, a problem for people with dementia, autism, ID, ...)
8. Wearable trackers, e.g., LoJack (study on how to obtain insurance coverage)
9. John Sanchez, IBM Engineer - Has been working on Wayfinding for years (i.e, w/ RFID)
10. Aura Ganz, UMass Amherst Engineer - Pilot using NFC at MBTA Arlington Street Station
11. Possibility: http://www.clickandgomaps.com/

Information To Incorporate

The following text is copied from Accessible Way-Finding Using Web Technologies Symposium Home (W3C, 2014).

Increasingly web technologies are used to provide such way-finding applications and services. This allows them to make use of web-based maps, location information, crowd-sourced reviews, and real-time data about the weather, traffic conditions, and other relevant aspects. It also allows the integration with and use of web-enabled sensors and actuators, and deployment on web-enabled devices such as mobile phones, televisions, overhead signage, glasses, watches, and other gadgets. Way-finding using web technologies enables new paradigms in many areas including mobility, travel, and tourism, and unprecedented opportunities for everyone.

In particular people with disabilities can greatly benefit from such way-finding applications and services, to gain more independence and self-determination. Examples of web-based maps, crowd-sourced information, and public data with accessibility information demonstrate the use of the Web to augment the physical world. Similarly, examples of specially created navigation and orientation systems, smart wheelchairs, smart canes, and other devices and applications demonstrate the potential of connecting the physical world with information on the Web to improve accessibility.

Also mainstream developments, including in the areas of near-field communication, open linked data, and self-driving vehicles, provide the potential for more versatile and cost-effective way-finding applications and services. However, it is unclear how well such mainstream way-finding applications and services address the accessibility needs of people with disabilities. This includes aspects such as:

• Data about the physical accessibility of places and routes;
• Capabilities to use this data to select accessible routes;
• Capabilities to present the information in accessible modes;

This symposium explores the current state-of-the-art, gaps, challenges, and opportunities in providing accessible way-finding using web technologies.

Scope

The scope of the symposium includes but is not limited to the following aspects:

• Users Interfaces: Using web technologies to display spatial, orientation, and navigational information in ways that are accessible for people with different types of disabilities. Some particular questions include:

• What are the main challenges in providing accessible user interfaces for way-finding systems, and how can web technologies help to address them?
• How do technologies such as WAI-ARIA and IndieUI address accessibility requirements in way-finding systems, and what gaps exist, if any?
• Which additional Techniques for WCAG 2.0 could be proposed to help support more rapid development of accessible way-finding systems?

• Data Sources, Formats, and Standards: Exploring existing and new data sources, formats, and standards to describe, review, and annotate the accessibility of places. Some particular questions include:

• How are or can semantic web technologies be used to describe accessibility of physical places and objects?
• What kinds of vocabularies and taxonomies exist, such as those found in building codes, and how can they be reused in the web context?
• What types of data sources and data collection methods provide or can provide accessibility-related information? What types of formats and APIs do they use?

• Integration with Mainstream Developments: Reviewing mainstream applications, devices, and systems that can contribute to accessible way-finding using web technologies. Some particular questions include:

• What kinds of technologies, systems, and applications entail potential benefits for accessible way-finding using web technologies?
• What kinds of web-enabled sensors, devices, and gadgets entail potential benefits for accessible way-finding using web technologies?
• What is the role of standards, policies, and market forces to enable more mainstream accessible way-finding applications and services?

The following text is copied from Accessible Way-Finding using Web Technologies (W3C, 2014)

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8. M. Kavouras, and M. Kokla (2008) Theories of Geographic Concepts: Ontological Approaches to Semantic Integration . Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group.
9. T. Sarjakoski, P. Kettunen, H. Halkosaari, M. Laakso, M. Rönneberg, H. Stigmar (2013). Landmarks and a Hiking Ontology to Support Wayfinding in a National Park During Different Seasons. In M. Raubal, D. M. Mark, and A. U. Frank (Eds.), Cognitive and Linguistic Aspects of Geographic Space, Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg.DOI:10.1007/978-3-642-34359-9
10. G. Schreiber (2008) Knowledge Engineering. In Handbook of Knowledge Representation, edited by F. van Hamelen, V. Lifschitz, and B. Porter, 929–946. Elsevier B.V.
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13. U.S. Access Board (2010) ADA Guidelines, http://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/buildings-and-sites/about-the-ada-standards/guide-to-the-ada-standards

The following text is copied from Extended Abstract for the RDWG Symposium on Accessible Way-Finding Using Web Technologies, Accessible Wayfinding Ontologies for People with Disabilities (W3C, 2014)

1. Li, Y., Draffan, E.A., Glaser, H., et al. RailGB : Using Open Accessibility Data to Help People with Disabilities. Proceedings of the Semantic Web Challenge co-located with ISWC2012, (2012), 1–8.
2. Prandi, C. Accessibility and Smart Data : the Case Study of mPASS. Proceedings of 13th International Web for All Conference - W4A ’14, (2014), 9–10.
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4. Ding, C., Wald, M., and Wills, G. A Survey of Open Accessibility Data. Proceedings of 13th International Web for All Conference - W4A ’14, ACM (2014), 73–80.
5. Bizer, C., Heath, T., and Berners-Lee, T. Linked data-the story so far. International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems (IJSWIS) 5, 3 (2009), 1–22.
6. Tim Berners-Lee. Linked Data - Design Issues. 2009. http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html.
7. Ding, C., Wald, M., and Wills, G. Open Accessibility Data Interlinking. Proceedings of The 14th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP), (2014), 73–80.

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Source: Extended Abstract for the RDWG Symposium on Accessible Way-Finding Using Web Technologies, Accessible Wayfinding Ontologies for People with Disabilities (W3C, 2014)