Methodology and Approach of Towards the implementation of the first Arabic wayfinding and accessible indoor navigation solution for people with visual impairments in Qatar

The solutions are used to have effective analysis and serve the needs and perferences of individuals under navigation and visual imparimets. The research conducted in the study is aim to gaim the better understanding of scope, complexity, nature, and diversity of the challenges and navigation methods. The existing navigation solutions of Qatar gathered information and feedback from different partner organizations and they work to analyze the information. The navigational aid is considered by the researchers for the blind generally. The research perform more than one function and they are mentioned in the figure and the functions include path or route planning, familiarization, communicating, and localization of users in the meaningful manner and the analysis undergoes accessible interfaces.

Figure 6. Technology challenge areas in indoor navigation for B/VI people

Each key finding is considered as a challenge in the implementation of an indoor navigation system for people with visual impairment. Including people with visual impairment starting from the beginning is a must to ensure that every step in the project is reviewed and advised by them.

The methodology of the design of the venue is illustrated in the next figure.

Figure 7. Initial prototype of floor plan creation and management tool.

In addition to design the menu, a digital solution should be developed to connect a device used by the person with visual impairment with the sensors set up in the venue.

The next figure illustrates different components that are required for implementation (Namboodiri, V. (2019)).

Figure 8. A system diagram depicting the wayfinding/indoor navigation system and its components

Roadmap of Towards the implementation of the first Arabic wayfinding and accessible indoor navigation solution for people with visual impairments in Qatar

The roadmap is basically process that use technology and make the cities more accessible for the people under vision of impairment. The wayfinding process remains challenging for the people and the disabilities change for the communities. In addition to the other challenges as analyzed earlier the indoor spaces are used to measured. There are many outdoor areas for instance sidewalkwithin, public recreational areas, office buildings, and university campuses. In these areas the effectiveness of GPS is limited and non-existent.

The research can put the users with vision impairment and the big disadvantage is spaces. Similarly, the mobility impairments require use of new technology and determine the accessible pathways that remain inefficient. The examples of these areas are wheelchair-accessible, entering indoor spaces, and paths such as outdoor sidewalks. The sidewalks typically indicate the accessibility of wheelchair and absence of curbs.  

Similarly there are challenges that exist for people under cognitive impairment. There is great need to provide easy to use, low cost, reliable, and flexible auxiliary for improving system within outdoor and indoor spaces. The complementing GPS based system are also used in the research. The aim of these technolgoies is to find the solution of problems for the people facing disabilities in communities. The broad application in the general population is disorienting spaces. In this direction, the long term goal of the project is to deploy, design, refine, and evaluate the wayfinding system in smart cities.

1.      The supplements are outdoor GPS systems that is further integrated with smartphone app and it will provide customized, fine-grained, and turn by turn navigation acroos the outdoor and indoor spaces. The spaces are for the physical and visual impairment, gereral population, and older adults.

2.      The complments exist for the signage that is city wide and improve the safety of citizens. The customized information is about the transit stops, landmarks, and other features of interest in the society. The infrastructure further enable the evacuation alert system and emergency notifications for the citizens and visitors of city. The underlying positioning technologies are used to develop wayfinding system and it will eventually leverage the combination of wireless information emitters. The example of emitters include Bluetooth BLE beacons, wide-area wireless sysem, Al-based systems and networks such as 5G.

In present work we used road map for the research in this area, the specific technologies and tools are designed in different segments of the road map. The designed road map is composed of 10 sets of design guidelines and we discerned it from the work to data and it will be informative for the researchers in the working area and users of assistive navigation technology for B/VI users.

1.      The design process of users is one of the important guideline in the effective work of different areas. The researchers include the B/VI users and the specialists of O and M and the process considered in the research in based on iterative process and testing methods are different. The testing conducted in the blindfolded sighted users do not yield the same result.

2.      The users of the loop are important and they must be appreciated under the O and M training of users. The navigation assistane is an important tool that is used by the users in the loop and it incorporate with the input effectively and produce robust outcomes under the useful guidance.

3.      It is important to pay attention to affordability. The purchasing power and employment becomes sometimes low about the B/VI community. The assistive tools are required to be affordable for the users so they can be useful.

4.      The reliability is highly important as it can be used as a tool to deal with the failure and it could jeopardize the safety of B/Vi users. The tools operate to obtain the reliability and trust of others. The reliability can be measured practically and it can predict the behavior of user in graceful degradation and scenarios of different enviroments. The users can predict conditions of failure and the reponse to tool is mainly based ont the conditions. The users can dectect and predict different failure conditions and tools respond to the limitations of technology.

5.      The practical tools can be developed to ensure that the users of B/VI are able to learn the technology under the reasonable time frame. The usage is also measured under different scenario. For insntace, the practical considerations are theft by the expecnsive technologies and it can be measured by inability of users to carry the devcies. It can be considered for designing the tools.

6.      The users of services must consider that they are not paying attention to the surroundings and they are keeping track of all variety of things when they use devices for navigation. It it highly important to develop and design the assistive tools and users must consider that the services are not monopolizing and overwhelming attention of users. The interfaces must provide customization for the users and it will ofer the need of multitask process. There are different levels of assistance but it is important to find that the device depends on the specific scenario.

7.      It is important to consider the environmental consideration in different areas particularly in the high levels of competing sounds. The users of B/VI often prefer less information about the assistive tools and they can focus on the inputs of from the surroundings. In contrast of this argument the large empty spaces are considered and users may find detailed instructions. The tool provides information to the users and it is important to consider all the privacy issues and output generate distracting levels of the noise that is background of services.

8. consideration related to environment is essential because they can give more attention on different elements in the environment as they present in such area that have B/VI customers normally focus on minimum information from tools of assistive  and with major competing sound level. On the other side, the customers need further depth of all information when navigation occur with huge empty areas. We can further explain that with read loud facility the tool is giving more information then whether its results producing levels of distracting of background noise, it is very essential to determine the issues related to privacy.

9.dynamically adaption and expectation: tools related to assistive effectively are beneficial for the B/VI customers because they will give the methodology related to environment changes with reorganization and also adapt all related changes according to proper time . for maximum performance, difference must be created between changes of infrastructure permanent and changes on temporary basis.

10. for existing resources the implementation: to the success of assistive tools of the community of B/VI, understanding is important related to users of B/VI that how they navigate without using technology and to harness resources useful to sighted people how they employing universal design principles that significantly contributes.

11. Bigger picture and its explanation: to successful decisions of design for assistive tools, the complete understanding of laws, policies and procedures related to accessibility can contribute significantly.

Project plan and Scale:

With the Vision of 2030 of Qatar aligned, for five years, the implementation of the project proposal is started for the Interest of Smart Qatar under TASMU. Many different elements must be determine during the planning of indoor navigation solution that are related to such people who have impairment of vision and this will happen at staring before the implementation of the project proposal. For the evaluation of the process, different aspects must be determined of great importance before the starting of the process. With the accurate questions and get informed is the major part of taking the decisions accurately which are as given under;

1.      Needs indentified: we want to obtain what sort of data? If the asset are under or over utilize then it must be determine that what type of data required for decision related t purchasing? How the planning of professional is going to be more authentic and viable? Information related to all those people who are moving through the location you identified? With the solution provider, discuss and also explain the concrete applications that are very helpful.

2.      Part of thinking: how the leverage provided to the investment of RTSL with the application that is willing to utilize like asset tracking? Which initiatives is required for the solution to provide a support in the future to understand the range for the RTSL offers and its related possibilities.

3.      Precision level and its understanding: to obtain the individual goals, what sort of accuracy must be required? Variety of accuracy levels are utilize at different technologies for example chair level, level of room and floor. Like Bluetooth beacons accuracy work less than eight meters so it has lower accuracy and UWB work under 30 centimeters so its accuracy is high.

4.      Integration understating: with the RTSL, what system is going to utilize for better interface? Like with ERP system tracking solution could be integrated. What sort of compatibilities must be required should be discuss with the solution providers.

5.      Location specification: location area must be specified! For the implementation of the positioning system, what area should be included? Is the location cover outdoor or indoor or both? On site what are the current condition? any change in the area of location should be required or in the layout? Total cost must be identified with the number of factors that help to explain the hardware requirement.

6.      User support and its education: when the system is going to implemented then what results going to generate? How the implementation effect the workflow of daily routine? With the system which parts of staff is familiar? What type of support is required in case if any need? Before project realization all these factors are consider .

7.      Project total cost must be examine: all the expenses must be consider that include license fees with the installation price of the project and how much additional cost  for the advanced application and infrastructure implementation should be required? Range cost of short and long term must be measure. Staff time and cost of batteries are the small examples of this issue.

In the nest diagram all the details and project plan explain with details.

 

 

Figure 10.Project Procedure of an indoor navigation project[1]

The duration of the implementation of such project depends as we mentioned in this section on the size and scale of the venue in addition to the number of venues and how they are connected.

For a five years project plan, we can suggest the following plan:

Phase 1

(Jan 2020– Jun2020): Pilot project for a period of 6 months covering a specific section in a specific location (for example a shopping mall in the State of Qatar: Mall of Qatar). This phase can be done in a part of the venue or on the full venue. As pilot project, the timeline can be flexible due to the challenges that can happen during implementation.

(Jul 2020 – Dec 2020):Extend the implementation to cover the whole venue or to apply on another venue.

We consider that six months is enough for implementation taking in consideration all different steps mention in previous figure.

Phase 2

(Jan 2021– Dec 2022): Aligning to Qatar Vision 2030, the implementation can be done on other malls.

Phase 3

(Jan 2023 – Dec 2025): Expanding theimplementation to coverother venues of which are key points of interest (Airport / Hospitals / Museums / Rail stations).

Case study – The Mall of Qatar

Like the same which have mention in the above section, to implement the use of the first prototype in the Mall of the Qatar, we have to follow some simple steps:

Specify the needs of the customers: First we identify the needs of our target basically the impaired and disabled persons, in a meeting that was conducted in the first project. In the next step, we identify the limitations of our targeted group and with the support of the impaired person we have make a list of the assets of the environment. We should make it possible to identify, whether the assets of the list of the assets are available and where the assets appear and whether the objects of the environment leave the place or a certain area or not. And before planning something or developing any tool we must visit the location on which the mapping will be done and we can suggest a solution for the problem.

Proposal for the solution: To present a proposal for the solution, we must first conduct a meeting or a discussion to decide the best possible solution that should be used and that is most feasible for the situation. But some problems might occur when giving the proposal for the solution like the technical limitations and some privacy concerns. Then the requirements for the proposal are then divided into different packages and the process of developing the proposal will undergo each package. For our targeted group, a complete list of all the equipments that are required is needed. Different departments should also overview and keep an eye on the location of the equipments and its list location. To give the solution of the problem we should provide two factors or components:

a. A system should be developed that track the location of the goods like furniture, offices supply and some technical equipments, the tracking system should track the goods in the real time and it should display the properties and the position of the goods and the objects in a web interface, any time it is needed.

b. And to protect the data from any theft and loss we should set up some process logics that are geo based. An alarm is set for the objects when the objects leave the area that is defined. This process of tracking is called geofencing.

3. Selecting technology: Selection the method to implement outdoor navigation and the hardware for this system is important part of this task. A difference is made between the two approaches the client based and the server based. The most of the widely used technology by us today is Wi-Fi and Ultra-Wideband UWB, some locator tags and RFID and collectively some other advance technologies like this. The use of this technology depends on the purpose for which it is used and the conditions. The two approaches are discussed below:

a. Client based: In this the position of the navigation takes place on the phones of the clients. An app is required to that catches signals from the Wi-Fi. But for sending some notifications a backup channel is also available. The apps include the parking solution app, the indoor navigation app, the location based services and the passenger app.

b. Server-based: In the server based approach the navigation is done through the Locator tags or Locator nodes, these platforms receive the signals and then send it to cloud. The server in the cloud then calculates the locations. In the server-based approach app is not required. The examples of sever based approaches are the route analyses, the generation of the movement files and the route analyses.

10.  We have recommended to use the Beacon or the Locator nodes because they’re more suitable and are available at low prices, less time to install the system and has long battery. We advise you to the use the devices that save power and the movement of the device depends on the actions of the object, when the object will move the device will move.

11.  4. Mapping of the Venue or the location: Our next step is to digitize the building. And the format of the digitization will be required in certain formats like the jpg, png, pdf etc. Then we open the map editor and enters the location of the routes and the locations that are important. The colors are used to design the roads and the route networks. And if any change is required then you can manage the data by yourself.

12.  5. Inspection of the site and the installation of the hardware: We prefer to install the hardware on our targeted location and we should take care that if any special features that are to be installed in the hardware, should be implemented in the hardware before installing.

13.  6. Calibration of positioning: By using the Calibration tools the Calibration routes are defined on the basis of the hardware that is used in the tool. Calibration is done on the targeted site with the help of the Calibration app. This app is responsible for collecting the data. Then the data is checked if required. The team which you are working with can also perform the calibration positioning.

14.  7. System Rollout: A system will be developed in which the solution is developed while the results are given along. The closed group of the user identifies and make sure that there are no mistakes found in the system. 

15.  8. Training and support: During the rollout system, we train and support you regarding the use of tools so that you can use the tools in the future on your own. We will train you or will conduct a web meeting.

16.  9. Maintenance: A contract regarding the maintenance of the tool should be signed so that the hardware can be replaced when required and we can also upgrade the solutions that have already been developed.

Figure 11. A look inside the Mall of Qatar in the State of Qatar

Figure 12. Indoor navigation and tracking in the shopping Mall[2]

Cost Analysis

18.  Different ways are provided with reasonable cost for the developing a complete new infrastructure for indoor positioning area. For installing and position devices anchor for example base station to identified area to signal transmission that utilize for the positioning, the complete cost must be include the capabilities of hardware embedding in the devise of mobiles to capture the signals. If it would be used only purpose of positioning, then the cost must be present the radio spectrum cost when the case of RF-based positioning is discusses.

19.  In indoor area for positioning purpose, the reasonable cost of the newly infrastructure should be move to normally RF employed wireless technologies through investigation. The major benefit of this is that communications infrastructures are occur in that place and these technologies are already present with spectrum. They are normally not design majorly for the application of positioning but also they may use again and for the same purpose related to positioning. Many studies explain that with the RF signals, for the positioning in indoor areas, also utilize the dead reckoning, ultrasound and acoustic signals are utilize with consideration.

·         Procurement

·         Installation, mapping and calibration

·         App Development

·         Training and Support

·         Survey and collecting feedback

·         Repair/ Maintenance

·         Marketing and raising awareness

Estimating the total cost of the project depends on the surface of the venue. Below, an estimated cost based on the surface of the venue and the number of floors and stores using a beacon calculator[3]:

Area	Number of beacons
Surface75sqm for the open area (without boundaries)	1
Lift	1 per floor
Escalator	2
Store	1
Object	1

Estimated cost for a 5000 sqm shopping venue:

As mentioned at the beginning of the section, here an estimated cost of the project for a pilot project (venue composed of 4 floors which the surface of each floor is 5000 m2):

Object	Cost
Procurement	12950 USD
Installation (onsite visits), mapping and calibration	25000 USD
App Development	25000 USD
Training and Support	10000 USD
Survey and collecting feedback	8000 USD
Repair and maintenance (30% of total cost)	24285 USD
Marketing campaign and raising awareness	35000 USD
Total cost (estimation)	140235USD  QAR 510,455.40[4]

Recommendations

21.  In many different ways, this would be beneficial for the person with the vision Impairment, by implementation of way finding solutions.

22.  In indoor urban environment, the research of previous many years in the assistive technology explain that independence of B/VI people navigating and explore avenues to increase the safety. To this community, our task is going to start with the applications designed for the smart phone that give the facility of localization at dynamic level and assistance at path planning and also in the area of indoor navigation and way finding, it evolved to focus the more complete needs of the B/VI community.

Conclusion of Towards the implementation of the first Arabic wayfinding and accessible indoor navigation solution for people with visual impairments in Qatar

With the adaption of dynamic changes in different settings it also advances in the assistance technology that show huge success in making the impaired visually travelers in more convenience  way of public transit station of navigation and through different indoor environment. In this growing area of innovation many elements  also contributed like accessible user interface, crowd sourcing assistance, and trip planning tools. Therefore, many navigation challenges also faced through the visually impaired travelers remain unresolved and also various restrictions related to these technologies also present. And users have to follow all the restrictions.

References of Towards the implementation of the first Arabic wayfinding and accessible indoor navigation solution for people with visual impairments in Qatar

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§  Gärling, T. (Ed.). (1995). Urban cognition. Waltham, MA: Academic Press.

§  Gärling, T., Lindberg, E., &Mäntylä, G. (1983). Orientation in buildings: Effects of familiarity, visual access, and orientation aids. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68(1), 177–186.

§  Moeser, S. D. (1988). Cognitive mapping in a complex building. Environment and Behavior, 20(1), 21–49.

§  Levine, M. (1982). You-Are-Here maps: Psychological considerations. Environment and Behavior, 14, 221–237.

§  Klippel, A., Freksa, C., & Winter, S. (2006). You-Are-Here maps in emergencies: The danger of getting lost. Journal of Spatial Science, 51(1), 117–131.

§  Li, R., & Klippel, A. (2012). Wayfinding in libraries: Can problems be predicted? Journal of Map and Geography Libraries, 8(1), 21–38.

§  Hölscher, C., Montello, D., & Schnitzler, V. (2013). Wayfinding cognition and mobile maps for indoor settings. GeoHCI Geographic Human Computer Interaction Workshop at CHI 2013, ACM Conference on Computer–Human Interaction, Paris, France. April 2013

§  Carlson, L. A., Hölscher, C., Shipley, T. F., & Dalton, R. C. (2010). Getting lost in buildings. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(5), 284–289.

§  Kaemarungsi, K., & Krishnamurthy, P. (2004, March). Modeling of indoor positioning systems based on location fingerprinting. In INFOCOM 2004: Twenty-third annual joint conference of the IEEE computer and communications societies (Vol. 2, pp. 1012–1022). New York, NY: IEEE

§  Kray, C., Fritze, H., Fechner, T., Schwering, A., Li, R., &Anacta, V. J. (2013). Transitional spaces: Between indoor and outdoor spaces. In Spatial information theory (pp. 14–32). Berlin, Germany: Springer.

§  Afyouni, I., Ray, C., &Claramunt, C. (2014). Spatial models for context-aware indoor navigation systems: A survey. Journal of Spatial Information Science, 4, 85–123.

§  Namboodiri, V. (2019). Wichita State University, Envision Research Institute Wichita, KS, USA vinod. namboodiri@ wichita. edu.

Key Definitions

·         Functional Limitation: A functional limitation is a substantial impairment in the individual’s ability to function in the condition, manner, or duration of required significant life activity.

·         Accessibility:  accessibility is the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. It can be viewed as the “ability to access” and benefit from some system or entity. The concept often focuses on people with disabilities or special needs.

·         Wayfinding: Systems that guide people through a physical environment and enhance their understanding and experience of the space.

·         Audio-based navigation: technologies that help navigate from place to place through audio output.

Appendix 1: Solutions