BlindNavi: A Navigation App for the Visually Impaired Smartphone User

Abstract

These days, many of us frequently use mobile apps to help us navigate. However, these apps with touch screens are not user-friendly for visually impaired people who are eager to be able to leave their homes independently. Moreover, the most widely used apps are not specially made for the visually impaired, so they create much confusion and result in a problematic user experience. The main purpose of this research is to provide a new mobility-aid solution in the form of a navigation app that remembers meaningful information over the journey and makes the trip safer and smoother. Unlike those applications that provide visual guides, we want to refer to the way blind people recognize and remember their route, and provide multi-sensory messages combining familiar reference points that they have learned from O&M training. \"BlindNavi\" is an app prototype with a 3-step simple search, flat flow design, voice feedback consisting of multi-sensory clues, combined with micro-location technology, to assist visually impaired people leave their homes and safely explore the outside world on their own.