Getting Started - Wayfindr

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1.0 Why an Open Standard?

There are an estimated 285 million people worldwide living with sight loss.

This can often lead to isolation, poverty and depression. Of the estimated 2 million vision impaired people in the UK, almost half say they would like to leave their home more often. At the moment many vision impaired people are unable to travel independently, instead relying on other people to help them get around or just not venturing out at all.

What if vision impaired people were empowered to navigate independently using the smartphone they already have in their pockets?

Emerging indoor navigation technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons hold the key to opening up the world for vision impaired people. However, in order to achieve the greatest impact globally, there is a pressing need to develop a consistent standard to be implemented across wayfinding systems. This will truly open up a world where vision impaired people are no longer held back by their sight loss, removing barriers to employment, to seeing friends and family and engaging in their community.

Accessibility needs to be ‘baked’ into the roll-out of all indoor navigation services. Venues need reassurance that their investment in the installation of indoor navigation services will improve the customer experience, for all their customers. The Wayfindr Open Standard aims to do just that.

When individuals and organisations get behind a purposeful vision, solutions to what previously seemed like big challenges become attainable.

The aim is that this Open Standard will help lower the barrier for built-environment owners and digital navigation services to make their environments, products and services inclusive from the outset as we continue to weave technology into our cities.

Once the Open Standard is adopted across the built-environment and digital navigation services alike, vision impaired people will benefit from a consistent, reliable and seamless navigation experience.

1.1 What types of content make up the Open Standard?

The Wayfindr Open Standard contains different types of content:

Factual information, e.g. as in Section 2 “Learning about mobility for vision impaired people” and Sections 5.1.1-5.1.2 and 5.1.4
Recommendations for best practices, as seen in Section 3 “Designing for vision impaired people” and Section 5.1.3 “BLE beacon installation”
Guidelines, as in Section 4, which have been validated through Wayfindr trials and other resources as seen in Section 1.2 below
Suggestions for further Investigation that can be found in the Guidelines section and are appended “s”, e.g. “s4.1.1.1”. As their name suggests, these paragraphs have the potential to become guidelines once they are validated through further investigations
Considerations, e.g. as in Section 5.1.5, which include things that need to be considered for specific tasks

1.2 How are the guidelines informed

Six main resources have informed the content of the “Candidate Recommendation 1.0”:

The work of the Working Group that consisted of the following members:
- Martine Abel-Williamson, Objective Leader – Access to the Environment and Transport, World Blind Union
- Nicole Holmes, Technology Accessibility Officer, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT
- Manuel Ortega, Head of R&D, Ilunion Technology and Accessibility
- Kelly Prentice, Mobility Specialist, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT
- John Welsman, Policy Lead on Transport and Travel, Guide Dogs UK
The qualitative user research conducted by Wayfindr in the trials in London and Sydney. In total, 75 user sessions have taken place in these trials.
Academic research that supports the findings in Wayfindr trials. Wherever used, academic research resources can be found under “References”.
Factual information about vision impairment and the navigation techniques of vision impaired people. The resources for this information can also be found under “References”.
Input and feedback from industry experts: Professor Peter Barker OBE, Alan Brooks – Mobility Specialist, Henry Daw – Sound Designer and Audio Branding Consultant & Owner of Oblique Sound, Ann Frye – Independent Accessibility Consultant, Google Beacon Platform Team, Sue Sharp – RSBC, Alastair Somerville – Sensory Design Consultant at Acuity Design, Marten van Doorn – O&A expert, Hylke Bron – Co-founder of Movin
Input and feedback from Wayfindr Community members such as BlindSquare, BlueCats, Estimote, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, Kontakt.io, Nominet Innovation

1.3 How to use the Open Standard

Each section of the Wayfindr Open Standard might be relevant to different audiences. Some of the audiences that will benefit from the Open Standard are:

Venue owners and their access consultants that want to make their estate accessible
Developers and designers of navigation products and services that offer wayfinding for vision impaired people
Researchers who are conducting research or experiments in the area of wayfinding for vision impaired people

Anyone who is involved in projects about wayfinding for vision impaired people should become familiar with Section 2 “Learning about mobility of vision impaired people”, that provides an introduction to the world of vision impaired people and their navigation and mobility techniques.

If you are a venue owner or an accessibility stakeholder, the following sections will be the most relevant:

Section 4.2 “Guidelines for various types of built-environment” with guidelines about different types of built-environments, such as a rail station and the environmental elements that are likely to be found in them.
Section 5 “Wayfinding technologies” that includes information and recommendations about the installation, configuration and maintenance of specific technologies that can be used for wayfinding, such as Bluetooth Low Energy beacons.

If you are involved in digital navigation services as a researcher or designer, the following sections include the most relevant content:

Section 3 “Designing for vision impaired people” provides an overview of the design principles that underpin the Wayfindr Open Standard as well as a taxonomy of the elements that formulate an audio instruction.
Section 4.1 “Guidelines for various environmental elements” with guidelines about the information that needs to be provided when vision impaired people interact with or confront various elements in their environments, such as entrances, escalators, lifts etc.
Section 4.3 “Guidelines for mobile app development” with guidelines about the functionality that should be provided through a digital navigation service in order to provide a good user experience for vision impaired people. Section 4.3.2 is dedicated to guidelines around sound design, as sound is an important aspect in navigation for vision impaired people.

If you are involved in digital navigation services as a developer, the following sections will be relevant:

Section 3 “Designing for vision impaired people” that provides a taxonomy of different types of instructions that are used in a wayfinding system.
Section 4.3 “Guidelines for mobile app development” with guidelines about the functionality that should be provided through a digital navigation service in order to provide a good user experience for vision impaired people.
Section 6 “Open Source Wayfindr Demo mobile app” with information about the latest version of the Wayfindr Demo Mobile app and a link to a Github repository with access to the source-code. The Demo app has some features integrated as recommended by the “Guidelines for Mobile App Development”. This app is open-sourced and aimed for testing and demonstration purposes.

1.4 What is a Candidate Recommendation

The Candidate Recommendation is a document of greater maturity than the Working Draft. It’s the result of the collaborative work of the Working Group that was formed in September 2016 (see above for the members of the Working Group).

Made up of members of the Wayfindr Community, the Working Group received, digested, and evaluated contributions, then proposed updates to the Working Draft.

The release of a Candidate Recommendation triggers an 8-week period for public feedback, where extensive feedback is being sought by the Community and the public.

If you have any feedback on the candidate recommendation or the Open Standard you can send it to standard@wayfindr.net.