CRII: CHS: Customized Navigation for Older Adults with Vision Loss

对于视力低下的人来说，与智能手机进行交互以访问对他们的独立性和安全性至关重要的信息，虽然可能，但缓慢而繁琐。 这项研究的最终目标是通过创造技术来弥补这一缺陷，使这些用户能够在家中和旅途中快速轻松地访问信息。 作为具体而具有挑战性的第一步，这项工作将侧重于使视力低下的老年人能够规划和执行城市导航任务的系统。 如果成功的话，这个庞大且不断增长的目标社区的成员将有能力以更大的信心和独立性进行日常生活的关键活动。 项目成果将通过为低成本主流设备的无障碍互动新范式奠定基础，更广泛地推进无障碍研究的最新水平。为此，研究将包括以下几个阶段：（1）记录目标用户社区成员面临的导航和移动模式以及挑战;（2）设计和实现一个桌面系统，该系统根据给定路线上沿着的特征可达性产生“最佳”路线;（3）设计和实现一个智能手机导航应用程序，该应用程序将提供无障碍指南，包括无障碍地图;以及（4）在目标用户的现场评估智能手机应用。 实现这些目标将需要跨学科的努力，利用不同领域的专业知识，包括可访问性，交互技术，信息处理和机器学习。

For a person with low vision, interacting with a smartphone to access information that is critical to their independence and safety, while possible, is slow and tedious. The ultimate goal of this research is to remedy that deficiency by creating technology that enables these users to access information quickly and easily, both at home and on the go. As a concrete and challenging first step, the work will focus on systems to enable seniors with low vision to plan and execute urban navigation tasks. If successful, members of this large and growing target community will be empowered to perform a key activity of daily living with more confidence and independence. Project outcomes will advance the state of the art in accessibility research more broadly, by laying the foundation for a new paradigm of accessible interaction via low-cost mainstream devices.To these ends, the research will involve a number of phases: (1) documenting the navigation and mobility patterns and challenges facing members of the target user community; (2) the design and implementation of a desktop system that produces "optimal" routes based on feature accessibility along a given route; (3) the design and implementation of a smartphone navigation application that will provide accessible guidance including accessible maps; and (4) evaluation of the smartphone application in the field with target users. Achieving these goals will require an interdisciplinary effort that draws on expertise in a diverse set of fields, including accessibility, interaction techniques, information processing, and machine learning.