Wayfinding and Navigation for People with Disabilities Using Social Navigation Networks

• Published in: EAI endorsed transactions on collaborative computing Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Hassan A. Karimi, M. Bernardine Dias, Jonathan Pearlman, George J. Zimmerman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Alliance for Innovation (EAI) 01-10-2014
• Subjects: assistive technology; navigation; people with disabilities; social navigation networks; wayfinding
• ISSN: 2312-8623
• DOI: 10.4108/cc.1.2.e5

To achieve safe and independent mobility, people usually depend on published information, prior experience, the knowledge of others, and/or technology to navigate unfamiliar outdoor and indoor environments. Today, due to advances in various technologies, wayfinding and navigation systems and services are commonplace and are accessible on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. However, despite their popularity and widespread use, current wayfinding and navigation solutions often fail to address the needs of people with disabilities (PWDs). We argue that these shortcomings are primarily due to the ubiquity of the compute-centric approach adopted in these systems and services, where they do not benefit from the experience-centric approach. We propose that following a hybrid approach of combining experience-centric and compute-centric methods will overcome the shortcomings of current wayfinding and navigation solutions for PWDs.