Navigating airports can be tricky. They're loud, crowded and not always laid
out intuitively. They're even more challenging for visually impaired people.
Chieko Asakawa knows those challenges firsthand, and she has also devised a
remedy.
Asakawa has been blind since she was 14 and is now an IBM Fellow and a
professor in Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. This spring,
she and other researchers at Carnegie Mellon launched a navigation app for
Pittsburgh International Airport that provides turn-by-turn audio
instructions to users on how to get to their destination, be it a departure
gate, restaurant or restroom.
Pittsburgh is one of a growing number of airports around the globe to
provide wayfinding apps. The Pittsburgh app, called NavCog, was first used
at
the Carnegie Mellon campus and works almost like an indoor GPS.
"Independence is very important," she said. "Technology has been helping us
to be more independent and this is one of the examples. We still have a lot
of challenges, but we will keep working to make it easier."
Typically, visually impaired travelers arrive at the Pittsburgh airport and
request an escort, Asakawa said, but escorts aren't available until
passengers check in. So they must reach the counter on their own.
The escort brings passengers to their gate and leaves, she said. For
Asakawa, if she wanted a coffee, or if the flight was delayed, it was very
difficult to manage, and very often she'd just be stranded at the gate.
With NavCog, she can get up and find the gift shop or coffee shop or even
just wander around a bit, she said. The app is up and running and free to
download. It works with the help of hundreds of Bluetooth beacons installed
inside the airport to wirelessly communicate a user's location.
Users put in where they are going; for example, Gate A3. The app gives users
audio instructions like "walk 20 feet and turn left" and gets them to their
destination. The app lets users know what stores they might be passing,
giving them a better sense of their surroundings, and shopping options.
It relies on a map of the terminal that has been annotated with the
locations of restrooms, restaurants, gates, entrances and ticketing
counters.
Ten legally blind people <https://techxplore.com/tags/blind+people/> tested
the app using an iPhone 8, traversing the terminal's large open spaces,
escalators and moving walkways with few errors. Most users were able to
reach the ticketing counter in three minutes, traverse the terminal in about
six minutes, go from the gate to a restroom in a minute and go from the gate
to a restaurant in about four minutes, the researchers said.
Carnegie Mellon and the airport have partnered in developing new systems and
technologies for enhancing traveler experiences and airport operations. The
technology is tested at the university's on-site lab at the airport.
"Part of our commitment to the public includes making sure our airport works
for everyone, particularly as we modernize our facility for the future,"
said airport CEO Christina Cassotis.
The city is building a new airport <https://techxplore.com/tags/airport/>
terminal, slated to open in 2023, and incorporating the latest technology is
a top priority, she said.
Dozens of airports, including Philadelphia International, offer free use of
a service called Aira, where users connect with an "agent" either by using
glasses equipped with a camera or through a smartphone app
<https://techxplore.com/tags/smartphone+app/> that accesses the user's
camera.
Website:
https://techxplore.com/news/2019-07-apps-visually-impaired-airport.html
===========================================================
The fb-exchange mailing list
Manage account, subscribe or unsubscribe:
//www.freelists.org/list/fb-exchange
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/fb-exchange ;
Administrative contact: insight@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
===========================================================
