Indoor Wayfinding with Visual Impairments: OSM, BLE Beacons, and Nearby Explorer
Heritage
Friday, 4:25 PM – 20 min
Friday, 4:25 PM – 20 min
Jeremiah Rose
Nearby Explorer Online is a GPS app (iOS/Android) designed for people who are blind or visually impaired, originally developed by the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Since 2017, it has included support for OpenStreetMap and indoor navigation and wayfinding using the Simple Indoor Tagging scheme, Bluetooth low-energy beacons (BLE) for indoor location, and other accessibility tagging. APH and Access Explorer have set up more than 30 locations with OSM indoor maps and BLE beacons to facilitate accessible wayfinding. We’ll discuss using Nearby Explorer for indoor wayfinding as well as tagging indoor spaces for increased accessibility.