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A review of assistive spatial orientation and navigation technologies for the visually impaired

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A Correction to this article was published on 12 October 2017

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Abstract

The overall objective of this work is to review the assistive technologies that have been proposed by researchers in recent years to address the limitations in user mobility posed by visual impairment. This work presents an “umbrella review.” Visually impaired people often want more than just information about their location and often need to relate their current location to the features existing in the surrounding environment. Extensive research has been dedicated into building assistive systems. Assistive systems for human navigation, in general, aim to allow their users to safely and efficiently navigate in unfamiliar environments by dynamically planning the path based on the user’s location, respecting the constraints posed by their special needs. Modern mobile assistive technologies are becoming more discrete and include a wide range of mobile computerized devices, including ubiquitous technologies such as mobile phones. Technology can be used to determine the user’s location, his relation to the surroundings (context), generate navigation instructions and deliver all this information to the blind user.

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Change history

  • 12 October 2017

    The fourth author name was missed in the original publication. The correct list of authors should read as ���Hugo Fernandes, Paulo Costa, Vitor Filipe, Hugo Paredes, Jo��o Barroso���. It has been corrected in this erratum. The original article has been updated.

  • 12 October 2017

    The fourth author name was missed in the original publication. The correct list of authors should read as ���Hugo Fernandes, Paulo Costa, Vitor Filipe, Hugo Paredes, Jo��o Barroso���. It has been corrected in this erratum. The original article has been updated.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper has been supported by the Project CE4blind—Context extraction for the blind using computer vision, with Project reference UTAP-EXPL/EEI-SII/0043/2014, by the award “Inclusion and Digital Literacy Prize 2015” promoted by the Portuguese ICT and Society Network, and research Grant with reference SFRH/BD/89759/2012. All funding has been granted by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

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  1. INESC TEC and Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, School of Science and Technology, Quinta de Prados, Apt.1013, 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal

    Hugo Fernandes, Vitor Filipe, Hugo Paredes & João Barroso

  2. Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal

    Paulo Costa

Authors
  1. Hugo Fernandes
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  2. Paulo Costa
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  3. Vitor Filipe
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  4. Hugo Paredes
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  5. João Barroso
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Correspondence to Hugo Fernandes.

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The original version of this article was revised: The fourth author name Hugo Paredes was missed in the original publication. The list of authors has been corrected.

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Fernandes, H., Costa, P., Filipe, V. et al. A review of assistive spatial orientation and navigation technologies for the visually impaired. Univ Access Inf Soc 18, 155–168 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-017-0570-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-017-0570-8

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