Personalized Legibility of an Indoor Environment for People with Motor Disabilities: A New Framework

Ali Afghantoloee,Amin Gharebaghi,Mir Mostafavi,Geoffrey Edwards

doi:10.3390/ijgi9110649

Abstract

A mental map refers to the personalized representation of spatial knowledge in the human brain and is based on the perceptions, experiences, and interactions of people with their environment. For people with motor disabilities (PWMD) some perceptions and interactions with the environment during their mobility occur in different ways and consequently lead to different mental maps. For example, these people perceive and interact differently with elevators, escalators, and steps during their mobility. Hence, their perceptions of the level of complexity and the legibility of an environment may be different. Legibility of an environment is an indicator that measures the level of complexity and the ease of understanding of that environment by a person. In the literature, legibility is mostly estimated based on the environmental factors such as visibility, connectivity, and layout complexity for a given space. However, the role of personal factors (e.g., capacities) is rarely considered in the legibility assessment, which complicates its personalization. This paper aims at studying the influence of personal factors on the evaluation of the legibility of indoor environments for PWMD. In addition to the visibility, the connectivity, and the complexity of indoor environments, we also integrate the influence of the level of accessibility (i.e., presence of facilitators and obstacles) in the legibility assessment process. The Quebec City Convention Centre is selected as our study area and the legibility of this building is quantified. We show how the integration of the above-mentioned factors can influence the legibility for PWMD and hence their mobility performance in those environments.

Highlights

Enhancing social participation of people with disabilities (PWD) is a challenging issue for all societies
The research questions that are addressed in this paper are: (a) what are the most important factors to be considered for personalized legibility assessment for PWMD? (b) Is it possible to assess a personalized legibility for an indoor environment? In order to reply to these questions, we hypothesized that the legibility level of an indoor environment is significantly different for people with motor disabilities and can be personalized by considering the role of personal factors in the computation of each legibility factor
This paper proposes a new framework for the assessment of the personalized legibility of indoor environments to better support the mobility of PWMD

Summary

Introduction

Enhancing social participation of people with disabilities (PWD) is a challenging issue for all societies. In order to reply to these questions, we hypothesized that the legibility level of an indoor environment is significantly different for people with motor disabilities and can be personalized by considering the role of personal factors in the computation of each legibility factor (e.g., accessibility level). This paper proposes a new framework for the assessment of the personalized legibility of indoor environments to better support the mobility of PWMD. For this purpose, relevant environmental and personal factors that influence the legibility of the environment for PWMD are considered. Personalized legibility assessment can provide indicators that lead to better designs and development of more accessible and legible environments using smart technologies (sensors and actuators) and can allow PWMD to better move and interact with their indoor environment.

Literature Review

Findings

Conclusions and Future Work