Development of Navigation Application for Visually Impaired

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This paper proposes an application that assists the visually impaired, and develops it as a prototype in a smart phone.

Methods/Statistical analysis: The proposed system is an application that guides the visually impaired to his or her destination from the departure point as a guardian might guide. To do so, the application shall store movement routes, as well as information necessary for guidance during each route. The application was developed to provide audio guidance of such stored information in accordance to the location while moving.

Findings: The application is developed to recognize various objects that appear in front and to guide -in audio- it’s users of the object it encounters. It is also developed to identify traffic lights and guide it’s users via voice. The application also features a notification function that informs the guardian and/or related organization of the dangers that occur to the user while moving.

Improvements/Applications: Upon testing of the application developed, the application’s intended functions worked as designed. However, the precision of conventional GPS was insufficient in guiding movement to the visually impaired.