title: Understanding the requirements of geographical data for blind and partially sighted people to make journeys more independently.
abstract: Previous research has highlighted that blind and partially sighted people find various factors inhibit their abilities to make journeys. This paper proposes that the lack of accurate, appropriate and usable geographical data is one of the reasons for this and these can be tracked back to core human factors issues such as situational awareness, mental workload and environmental ergonomics. Following a review of applicable literature a hierarchical task analysis was performed to better understand the problems in terms of the complexity of various journey types and to identify the geographical data requirements in order to make successful journeys. The task analysis produced a number of results including highlighting four underlying principles which have an impact on the data requirements during any given journey. Finally the need for accessible and accurate geographical data requirements is introduced as a result of the literature review and the task analysis. These highlight the information required in order to facilitate more accessible travel for blind and partially sighted people by providing geographical information about their surroundings in a relevant, meaningful and usable way.
authors.affiliation: Royal National Institute of Blind People, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6XU, UK. edward.chandler@rnib.org.uk
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chandler
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Worsfold
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D006804:Ergonomics; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014195:Travel; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities
keywords: Geographical data; Task analysis; Visually impaired navigation