Mind the Gap: Virtual Shorelines for Blind and Partially Sighted People

Abstract

Blind and partially sighted people have encountered numerous devices to improve their mobility and orientation, yet most still rely on traditional techniques, such as the white cane or a guide dog. In this paper, we consider improving the actual orientation process through the creation of routes that are better suited towards specific needs. More precisely, this work focuses on routing for blind and partially sighted people on a shoreline like level of detail, modeled after real world white cane usage. Our system is able to create such fine-grained routes through the extraction of routing features from openly available geolocation data, e.g., building facades and road crossings. More importantly, the generated routes provide a measurable safety benefit, as they reduce the number of unmarked pedestrian crossings and try to utilize much more accessible alternatives. Our evaluation shows that such a fine-grained routing can improve users' safety and improve their understanding of the environment lying ahead, especially the upcoming route and its impediments.