Improving accessibility for pederstrians with geographic information

Osajulkaisut: Publication 1: Mari Laakso, Tapani Sarjakoski, and L. Tiina Sarjakoski. 2011. Improving accessibility information in pedestrian maps and databases. Cartographica, volume 46, number 2, pages 101-108. University of Toronto. DOI:10.3138/carto.46.2.101 Publication 2: L. Tiina Sarjakoski, Pyry Kettunen, Hanna-Marika Flink, Mari Laakso, Mikko Rönneberg, and Tapani Sarjakoski. 2012. Analysis of verbal route descriptions and landmarks for hiking. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, volume 16, number 8, pages 1001-1011. DOI:10.1007/s00779-011-0460-7 Publication 3: Mari Laakso, Tapani Sarjakoski, Lassi Lehto, and L. Tiina Sarjakoski. 2013. An information model for pedestrian routing and navigation databases supporting universal accessibility. Cartographica, volume 48, number 2, pages 89-99. University of Toronto. DOI:10.3138/carto.48.2.1837 Publication 4: Mari Laakso and L. Tiina Sarjakoski. 2010. Sonic maps for hiking—Use of sound in enhancing the map use experience. The Cartographic Journal, volume 47, number 4, pages 300-307. DOI:10.1179/000870410X12911298276237 Publication 5: Mari Laakso, Hanna-Marika Halkosaari, Tapani Sarjakoski, and L. Tiina Sarjakoski. 2013. User experiences with voice-based descriptive map content in a hiking context. In: Thomas Jekel, Adrijana Car, Josef Strobl, and Gerald Griesebner (editors). Creating the GISociety. Proceedings of the GI_Forum 2013 Conference. Salzburg, Austria. 2-5 July 2013. Berlin / Offenbach, Germany. Herbert Wichmann Verlag, VDE Verlag. Pages 49-58. ISBN 978-3-87907-532-4. DOI:10.1553/giscience2013s49Environments can be made more accessible by offering users information about barriers and objects that might hinder their progress, thus enabling more information about accessible routes. The study delineates the relevant geospatial information needed to describe the accessibility of an environment. Even though laws, acts and regulations give thorough building requirements for creating accessible environments, there is no holistic approach in geospatial data collection to represent the accessibility of geographical spaces. In this thesis, an information model is presented for representing the pedestrian environment. The model allows for accessibility issues and enables the use of geospatial information in pedestrian navigation applications. In addition to data contents and data modelling, this research studies how accessibility can be further increased by way of sound when communicating geospatial information. By communicating the geospatial information via sound the information content can be enhanced and usability improved. Sonic maps create remote access to nature and enhance the accessibility of a place. In this thesis, the fundamental aim was to study the information requirements in particular situations where different kinds of pedestrian users determine which route they might successfully complete. The results of the thesis will help data providers collect and store geospatial information, while taking accessibility issues into account, and hopefully it will raise awareness about issues pertaining to universal accessibility. Albeit, the main effort should focus on building accessible environments; in certain situations, people face hindrances and geospatial information could enable users overcome them.Ympäristöistä voidaan tehdä saavutettavampia tarjoamalla käyttäjille tietoa mahdollisista esteistä tai muista kulkua vaikeuttavista kohteista. Tässä tutkimuksessa määritellään tarvittava paikkatieto, jolla jalankulkijan ympäristö ja sen esteettömyys voidaan kuvata. Esteettömien ympäristöjen luomiseksi on olemassa joukko lakeja ja asetuksia, mutta ympäristön esteettömyyden kuvaamiseksi tarvittavalle paikkatiedolle ei ole määritelty kattavaa keräys- ja esitysmuotoa. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitellään tietomalli, jolla jalankulkijan ympäristö ja sen esteettömyys voidaan kuvata. Malliin voidaan sisällyttää esteettömyyttä kuvaavia tietoja ja se mahdollistaa tämän tiedon käytön myös navigointisovelluksilla. Tietosisällön ja sen mallintamisen lisäksi tässä työssä on tutkittu kuinka ympäristön saavutettavuutta voidaan lisätä kommunikoimalla paikkatietoa myös äänen avulla. Äänen avulla voidaan paikkatiedon määrää ja laatua sekä sen käytettävyyttä lisätä. Äänikartoilla voidaan luoda eräänlainen etäyhteys kuvattuun ympäristöön ja sen avulla lisätä ympäristön saavutettavuutta. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on määrittää erilaisten käyttäjien vaatima paikkatieto tilanteissa, joissa heidän on tehtävä päätös pystyvätkö he kulkemaan valitsemansa reitin. Tämän työn tulokset auttavat paikkatiedon tarjoajia keräämään ja tallentamaan paikkatietoa niin, että se kuvaa myös ympäristön esteettömyyttä. Ympäristöjen esteettömäksi rakentamisen tulisi edelleen olla ensisijainen tavoite, mutta koska jotkut käyttäjät tietyissä tilanteissa edelleen kohtaavat esteettömyysongelmia, heitä voitaisiin paikkatiedon avulla auttaa väistämään ne

The Application of Geographic Information Systems to Support Wayfinding for People with Visual Impairments or Blindness

People with visual impairments or legal blindness are relying on differing, comprehensive information utilized for their individual mobility. Increasing the personal mobility of people with disabilities and thereby achieving a self-determined life are major steps toward a more inclusive society. Research and applications on mobility issues of people with visual impairments or blindness mainly focus on technical applications or assistive orientation and navigation devices, and less work is covering the individual needs, e.g., regarding the information required for wayfinding. Moreover, active participation of people with disabilities in research and development is still limited. ways2see offers a new online application to support individual mobility in context of pre-trip planning for people with visual impairments or blindness based on a Geographic Information System (GIS). Obstacles, barriers, landmarks, orientation hints, and directions for wayfinding are generated by user profiles. The underlying network for GIS analysis is designed as pedestrian network. This individually coded network approach integrates sidewalks and different types of crossings and implements various orientation and navigation attributes. ways2see integrates three research realms: firstly, implementing a participative and transdisciplinary research design; secondly, integrating personalized information aligned with the individual user needs; and thirdly, presenting result of GIS analysis through an accessible designed user interface

Enrichment of OpenStreetMap data completeness with sidewalk geometries using data mining techniques

Tailored routing and navigation services utilized by wheelchair users require certain information about sidewalk geometries and their attributes to execute efficiently. Except some minor regions/cities, such detailed information is not present in current versions of crowdsourced mapping databases including OpenStreetMap. CAP4Access European project aimed to use (and enrich) OpenStreetMap for making it fit to the purpose of wheelchair routing. In this respect, this study presents a modified methodology based on data mining techniques for constructing sidewalk geometries using multiple GPS traces collected by wheelchair users during an urban travel experiment. The derived sidewalk geometries can be used to enrich OpenStreetMap to support wheelchair routing. The proposed method was applied to a case study in Heidelberg, Germany. The constructed sidewalk geometries were compared to an official reference dataset ("ground truth dataset"). The case study shows that the constructed sidewalk network overlays with 96% of the official reference dataset. Furthermore, in terms of positional accuracy, a low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value (0.93 m) is achieved. The article presents our discussion on the results as well as the conclusion and future research directions

Visual Impairment and Blindness

Blindness and vision impairment affect at least 2.2 billion people worldwide with most individuals having a preventable vision impairment. The majority of people with vision impairment are older than 50 years, however, vision loss can affect people of all ages. Reduced eyesight can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting with the community, school and work opportunities, and the ability to access public services. This book provides an overview of the effects of blindness and visual impairment in the context of the most common causes of blindness in older adults as well as children, including retinal disorders, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular or corneal degeneration

Transforming our World through Universal Design for Human Development

An environment, or any building product or service in it, should ideally be designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to use it. Universal Design is the design and composition of environments, products, and services so that they can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. It creates products, services and environments that meet people’s needs. In short, Universal Design is good design. This book presents the proceedings of UD2022, the 6th International Conference on Universal Design, held from 7 - 9 September 2022 in Brescia, Italy.The conference is targeted at professionals and academics interested in the theme of universal design as related to the built environment and the wellbeing of users, but also covers mobility and urban environments, knowledge, and information transfer, bringing together research knowledge and best practice from all over the world. The book contains 72 papers from 13 countries, grouped into 8 sections and covering topics including the design of inclusive natural environments and urban spaces, communities, neighborhoods and cities; housing; healthcare; mobility and transport systems; and universally- designed learning environments, work places, cultural and recreational spaces. One section is devoted to universal design and cultural heritage, which had a particular focus at this edition of the conference. The book reflects the professional and disciplinary diversity represented in the UD movement, and will be of interest to all those whose work involves inclusive design

Ontology of accessibility in the context of wayfinding for people with disabilities.

There is evidence that objects in and of the built environment function as barriers or facilitators to accessibility for people with disabilities. Although there are many existing sources of information about accessibility, they often lack clear criteria to describe accessibility, explanations of barriers and facilitators to mobility, and coverage of multiple physical environments. Researchers have argued that wayfinding services (e.g., Google Maps) can help people with disabilities prepare to travel through the built environment, yet current wayfinding services include little to no information about accessibility. This dissertation aims to study accessibility, in the context of wayfinding, in indoor, outdoor and transitional environments for people who travel in wheelchairs and people with low to no vision. To this end, a qualitative ontological analysis of multiple sources of information regarding accessibility was conducted including analyses of important categories associated with accessible wayfinding; different information providers’ views on accessibility; and specific barriers and facilitators to accessibility. The results indicate that (1) people with low to no vision and people who travel in wheelchairs have different core wayfinding information needs, (2) a gap exists between the information people with disabilities and researchers provide on accessibility and that provided by standard guidelines, and (3) conceptualizing accessibility requires capturing actions performed by people with disabilities during every day travel along with characteristics of environmental objects. The resulting ontology could be leveraged to generate new criteria describing accessibility, new routing algorithms, or to attach provenance to existing accessibility criteria. The findings have implications for people who design wayfinding services and collaborative maps and people collaboratively collecting data on the accessibility of specific places