Informing the design of an automated wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments

Alan L. Liu; Harlan Hile; Gaetano Borriello; Henry Kautz; Pat A. Brown; Mark Harniss; Kurt Johnson

3d International ICST Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

Research Article

Informing the design of an automated wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments

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@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6018,
    author={Alan L. Liu and Harlan Hile and Gaetano Borriello and Henry Kautz and Pat A. Brown and Mark Harniss and Kurt Johnson},
    title={Informing the design of an automated wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments},
    proceedings={3d International ICST Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare},
    proceedings_a={PERVASIVEHEALTH},
    year={2009},
    month={8},
    keywords={Computer science Design engineering Feedback Indoor environments Job design Navigation Prototypes Timing Usability User interfaces},
    doi={10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6018}
}

Alan L. Liu
Harlan Hile
Gaetano Borriello
Henry Kautz
Pat A. Brown
Mark Harniss
Kurt Johnson
Year: 2009
Informing the design of an automated wayfinding system for individuals with cognitive impairments
PERVASIVEHEALTH
ICST
DOI: 10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6018

Alan L. Liu¹^,*, Harlan Hile¹^,*, Gaetano Borriello¹^,*, Henry Kautz²^,*, Pat A. Brown³^,*, Mark Harniss³^,*, Kurt Johnson³^,*

1: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA 98195-2350
2: Department of Computer Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY USA 14627-0226
3: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA 98195-6490

*Contact email: aliu@cs.washington.edu, harlan@cs.washington.edu, gaetano@cs.washington.edu, kautz@cs.rochester.edu, pabrown@u.washington.edu, mharniss@u.washington.edu, kjohnson@u.washington.edu

Abstract

Individuals with cognitive impairments are often prevented from independently living, working, and fully participating in their community due to wayfinding concerns. We conducted two user studies of a mobile wayfinding aid designed to support such individuals. The first study examined usability issues related to wayfinding outdoors. The results were positive overall, but showed that the directions we used were at times too low-level, requiring strict adherence to the route and therefore highly precise message timing. The second study examined the use of landmarks to provide directions at a higher-level, as a way to overcome the limitations of the directions we were using. We found that certain types of landmark-based directions were significantly easier to follow, but individual performance varied across most direction types. The findings from both studies show that individuals with cognitive impairments would benefit from a wayfinding system that is capable of supporting customizable and adaptable direction selection.

Keywords: Computer science Design engineering Feedback Indoor environments Job design Navigation Prototypes Timing Usability User interfaces

Published: 2009-08-04

: http://dx.doi.org/10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6018