Accessible Maps: Barrier-free maps to improve occupational mobility
Goal
The aim of the AccessibleMaps project is to improve the spatial mobility of people with blindness or mobility impairments in the professional context and thus to enable equal participation in working life and in vocational education and training. Digital maps of buildings, which also contain information about their accessibility, are an essential prerequisite for better navigation, an overview and security. Up to now, the creation of barrier-free building maps has only been possible with considerable manual effort. This problem is addressed in the AccessibleMaps project.
Approach
By using innovative image processing methods, accessibility features are collected and supplemented in automatically digitized building maps. The type of features collected, their required quality and use will be determined together with those affected and evaluated in pilot studies with the target groups. The generated maps are made available in a barrier-free web application. The information on the maps should be individually adaptable to the current situation and the needs of the target group. Thus, all relevant route information can be researched independently, routes can be planned or a barrier-free representation of the building maps can be created in order to use them visually, tactilely or in spoken form at home or during the journey.
Duration
September 2019 to December 2022
Cooperation partner
Professorship for Human-Computer Interaction at the TU Dresden
Sponsored by
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) from funds of the Compensation Fund (promotional reference: 01KM151112)