Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• Development of Dialogue Systems for a Mobility Aid for Blind People: Initial Design and Usability Testing

  Thomas Strothotte, Steffi Fritz, Rainer Michel, Andreas Raab, Helen Petrie, Valerie Johnson, Lars Reichert, Axel Schalt (1996) — Proceedings of the Second Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '96)

  This paper presents the MoBIC Travel Aid (MoTA), an EU-funded system designed to increase independent mobility for blind and elderly travellers by combining Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with the Global Positioning System (GPS). The system has…

  • blindness and low vision
  • navigation
  • GPS
  • GIS
  • orientation and mobility
  • wayfinding
  • route planning
  • electronic travel aid
  • user-centered design

• Autonomous Navigation through the City for the Blind

  Jaime Sánchez, Natalia de la Torre (2010) — Proceedings of the 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2010)

  This paper presents a study on the use of an audio-based GPS navigation application designed to help blind people navigate independently through urban environments. The software, developed for PocketPC devices with Bluetooth GPS receivers, uses a clo…

  • blind navigation
  • GPS
  • orientation and mobility
  • mobile technology
  • assistive technology
  • audio navigation
  • urban accessibility
  • text-to-speech

• "Pray Before You Step Out": Describing Personal and Situational Blind Navigation Behaviors

  Michele A. Williams, Amy Hurst, Shaun K. Kane (2013) — Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS)

  This paper presents a formative study exploring how 30 adults with vision impairments use technology and personal strategies to navigate both indoor and outdoor environments. Rather than introducing new navigation technology, the research aims to bui…

  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • navigation
  • orientation and mobility
  • wayfinding
  • assistive technology
  • personas
  • GPS
  • white cane
  • guide dog
  • indoor navigation
  • user research

• Personal guidance system for the visually impaired

  J. M. Loomis, R. G. Golledge, R. L. Klatzky, J. M. Speigle, J. Tietz (1994) — Proceedings of the First Annual ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '94)

  This 1994 paper outlines the design and progress of a portable navigation system intended to enable visually impaired individuals to travel independently through both familiar and unfamiliar environments. The system integrates three core functional c…

  • navigation
  • blind users
  • GPS
  • geographic information system
  • wayfinding
  • spatial orientation
  • route planning
  • portable system
  • visually impaired
  • assistive navigation

• Getting mobile with mobile devices: using the web to improve transit accessibility

  Darren Minifie, Yvonne Coady (2009) — Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibililty (W4A)

  This paper proposes a mobile web-based architecture for making public transit accessible to blind and visually impaired travelers. Drawing on direct feedback from the blind community (including one of the authors, who is visually impaired), the paper…

  • mobile accessibility
  • public transportation
  • visual impairment
  • blindness
  • GPS
  • wayfinding
  • context-aware computing
  • location awareness
  • accessible transportation

• Closing the Gap: Designing for the Last-Few-Meters Wayfinding Problem for People with Visual Impairments

  Manaswi Saha, Alexander J. Fiannaca, Melanie Kneisel, Edward Cutrell, Meredith Ringel Morris (2019) — Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019)

  This paper comprehensively investigates the last-few-meters wayfinding problem — the gap between where GPS navigation ends (within approximately 5 meters of a destination) and where a person with visual impairment actually needs to arrive (the specif…

  • blindness
  • wayfinding
  • navigation
  • GPS
  • computer vision
  • landmarks
  • orientation and mobility
  • last mile
  • object recognition