Implementation of a Routing Application for People with Impairments, Improved and Evaluated Through Service Learning

This paper describes Map4Accessibility, a mobile device application that suggests personalized paths within urban areas for people with different impairments. It guides users to a desired destination by avoiding places in which obstacles or barriers they cannot pass are present, ensuring safe and accessible navigation. Map4 Accessibility works on any off-the-shelf smartphone/tablet, exploiting the potential of the modern positioning and orienting sensors equipped on them and presents three main features: (i) a novel rating system based on crowd-sourcing, that allows updated and reliable information about place accessibility to be provided; (ii) a routing algorithm that includes an ad-hoc functionality to avoid those obstacles that are considered insurmountable barriers for a user having a specific impairment; (iii) a user interface, specifically designed to be understandable and accessible for any user. Different kinds of impairments, such as motor, visual, hearing, and cognitive, were considered to increase inclusion. The design was improved and evaluated using a service learning paradigm during a group of exploratory walk tests in different European cities. The evaluation demonstrated its ability to assist users with impairments in navigating complex and unfamiliar environments and paved the way for future improvements.