Aiming and Guiding - Navigation with a Non-visual GPS Application

Abstract: This master's dissertation describes a study that relates to persons with visual impairments, and wayfinding using a smartphone with touchscreen. The study consists of the development of a prototype and an evaluation of its usability while interacting with haptic and auditive feedback. The prototype was developed for the Android platform. It provides a way of scanning for points of interest while pointing at them with a mobile phone and then choosing to be guided to them. The evaluation was executed by six users, five participants with visual impairments and one sighted, in an open area. The evaluation showed that users found the application usable. The scanning approach was perceived more valuable than the guiding because of gps inaccuracy and the lack of routing built into the application.