Author:
Kevin Chau
Mentor:
Hao Tang
Abstract:
All around the world, the blind and visually impaired face obstacles with locating where they currently are and locating places, and even entrances. Due to this, many blind and visually impaired people lose out on a sense of independence in their travels. We believe that to facilitate independent traveling it would be best to provide travel assistance by using Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, a lot of urban accessibility data is needed to build AI travel assistance. In this project, we will propose a mobile application that automatically collects storefront accessibility information by people with blind or low vision (BLV). The app provides an accessible interface for BLV users to notify the system to collect data. This data will consist of the coordinates of their exact location and their destination locale based on Google Street View. Furthermore, the mobile app will provide the BLV user with information as to where they are, and how far away they are from the entrance of their destination. We will work with BLV users to evaluate the effectiveness and usability of the app via user study, interview and survey.
