Nowadays public buildings are changing constantly, often people have to take different routes to reach known destinations. At the same time, new services and places are made available to attract more people to the shopping center. This dynamic environment is usually signalled and labelled with visual marks and signs which are not appropriated for blind persons. Therefore, blind users are unintentionally deprived of a full participation in the society. With the purpose of equalize the access to services and spaces among all persons, this work proposes an innovative indoor navigation and information system for public buildings, namely shopping centers, based on existing technologies not used for this purpose. Intending to allow a comfortable and helpful aid on blind persons trips to the shopping center, this proposal system relies on users smartphone and wireless sensors deployed in the environment.
Abstract. This work intends to provide an assistive technology that helps blind persons to independently navigate inside public spaces. Blind persons often travel through known routes as they already know some features of it. Our technology helps users to travel through unknown spaces and find products or services available there. It is supported by personal smartphones running Android OS and beacons deployed in the space.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.