Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
26 results found in Navigation and Wayfinding.
- 3D Environment Model (Building Information Model, Spatial Model, 3D Building Model)
- A detailed three-dimensional digital representation of a physical environment, such as a building interior, that includes the geometry of walls, floors, doors, windows, and fixed objects. In accessibi…
- AI Suitcase (AI-suitcase, Accessibility AI Suitcase)
- A suitcase-shaped autonomous navigation robot for blind and low-vision travellers, developed as an open research platform by IBM Research, Carnegie Mellon University, Miraikan (the Japanese National M…
- Airport Accessibility
- The practices, technologies, policies, and physical design choices that enable travelers with disabilities to use airports independently and with dignity. In the United States, airport accessibility i…
- Assistive Suitcase (Robotic Suitcase, Smart Suitcase)
- A mobility aid in the form factor of a rolling travel suitcase that has been augmented with sensors, computing, and feedback mechanisms to help blind or low-vision travellers navigate public spaces. T…
- Audio Augmented Reality (Audio AR, Augmented Audio Reality, Audio-Augmented Environment)
- The overlay of digital sound — synthesised speech, music, earcons, or spatialised audio cues — onto a user's perception of their real or virtual environment. Audio augmented reality can be head-worn (…
- BlindSquare
- A GPS-based iOS accessibility app designed for people who are blind or have low vision, providing spoken information about the surrounding environment — nearby points of interest, intersections, stree…
- Cane Technique (White Cane Technique, Long Cane Technique)
- The set of physical methods a blind or low-vision person uses to manipulate a long white cane while traveling. Common techniques include the two-point touch (side-to-side sweeping, touching ground at …
- Detectable Warnings (Detectable Warning Surfaces, Tactile Warning Surfaces)
- Detectable warnings are standardised tactile surface features installed on walking surfaces to alert people with visual impairments to hazards or transitions — most commonly the edge of a transit plat…
- Freezing Robot Problem (Freezing robot, Robot freezing)
- A classic failure mode of autonomous robots operating among people, first characterised by Trautman and Krause (2010), in which a robot stalls indefinitely because every candidate path is blocked by p…
- Geocoding (Geo-coding, Geographic Coding)
- The process of associating geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) or location identifiers with objects, markers, or data points. In accessibility contexts, geocoding is used to tag physical l…
- Indoor Localization (Indoor Positioning, Indoor Positioning System, IPS)
- The problem of determining the precise location of a person or device inside a building, where GPS signals are weak or unavailable. Indoor localization is foundational for accessible wayfinding system…
- Inertial Sensor (IMU, Inertial Measurement Unit)
- A sensor device that measures acceleration, rotation, and orientation using accelerometers and gyroscopes, often combined with magnetometers. In assistive technology, inertial sensors are used to trac…
- Logical Navigation (Structural Navigation, Semantic Navigation)
- A non-visual navigation strategy in which a user moves through a web page by its semantic structure — jumping between heading levels, ARIA landmarks, skip links, form fields, or other role-tagged regi…
- Map-less Navigation (Mapless navigation, Infrastructure-free navigation)
- A class of robotic and assistive navigation techniques that do not require a pre-built environmental map or installed infrastructure such as Bluetooth Low Energy beacons, ultra-wideband anchors, or vi…
- Navigability (Ease of Navigation, Web Navigability)
- The ease and efficiency with which a user can move through a web page, application, or document to reach their intended content. For accessibility practice, navigability is a primary determinant of wh…
- Page Landmarks (ARIA Landmarks, Landmark Regions, Landmark Roles)
- Named regions of a web page that identify its high-level structure — for example banner, navigation, main, complementary, search, form, contentinfo — so that assistive technology can expose them as ju…
- RSSI Fingerprinting (Received Signal Strength Fingerprinting, Radio Fingerprinting, Signal Fingerprinting)
- An indoor localization technique in which a device estimates its position by comparing the current pattern of received signal strengths (RSSI) from surrounding radio sources — most commonly Bluetooth …
- Radial Direction (Angular Direction, Heading, Bearing (audio display))
- In auditory-display research, a data value that represents a direction in a plane — for example a compass bearing, the tangent of a curve, or the orientation of a pointer — treated as an angle rather …
- Recreational Exploration (Wandering exploration, Exploratory navigation, Open-ended exploration)
- Movement through an environment driven by interest, curiosity, or enjoyment rather than by a fixed destination — for example wandering a museum, browsing a shopping mall, or exploring a neighbourhood.…
- Route Learning (Route Familiarization)
- The process by which a traveler — particularly a blind or low-vision person — acquires a mental representation of a specific path through an environment, including its turns, landmarks, distances, sur…