Travelling more independently: A Requirements Analysis for Accessible Journeys to Unknown Buildings for People with Visual Impairments

Abstract

It is much more difficult for people with visual impairments to plan and implement a journey to unknown places than for sighted people, because in addition to the usual travel arrangements, they also need to know whether the different parts of the travel chain are accessible at all. The need for information is presumably therefore very high and ranges from knowledge about the accessibility of public transport as well as outdoor and indoor environments. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no study that examines in-depth requirements of both the planning of a trip and its implementation, looking separately at the various special needs of people with low vision and blindness. In this paper, we present a survey with 106 people with visual impairments, in which we examine the strategies they use to prepare for a journey to unknown buildings, how they orient themselves in unfamiliar buildings and what materials they use. Our analysis shows that requirements for people with blindness and low vision differ. The feedback from the participants reveals that there is a large information gap, especially for orientation in buildings, regarding maps, accessibility of buildings and supporting systems. In particular, there is a lack of availability of indoor maps.