Mapxus is a B2B solutions provider in indoor map and positioning applications with a client base in property development, facility management, government, as well as non-government organizations.
Facilitated the problem discovery, design, and testing process of an indoor navigation product for people with vision impairment, an exploratory proof of concept as a part of the Hong Kong Development Bureau’s initiatives to create a more liveable, inclusive city experience for people with disabilities.
I began with explorative desk research to gauge the broader context of vision impairment. I learned that people with vision impairment made up to 2.7% of the city’s population, and amongst them, 62% had multiple disabilities or chronic diseases, a fraction of which resulted in vision loss.
Designing assistive technology in navigation for people with vision impairment was nothing new. Through conducting a competitive analysis, I learned that existing products focus on providing auditory cues to users in getting around the city, however, none were built for being used in indoor environments.
With that in mind, I invited 10 participants from reputable vision impairment communities for an in-depth interview to further understand their daily experience, intentions, and current challenges in getting around indoor spaces.
Next, I conducted a session with the team and stakeholders to cluster common themes, and most importantly, establish a shared level of understanding of the community.
We learned that —
<aside> 💡 Participants were reliant on their hearing abilities, the sensibility of smell and touch to understand their immediate environments
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<aside> 💡 Like how tactile paths were built to illuminate designated routes, they relied on building a memory palace of mental maps, based on their past experience in memorizing checkpoints to help them gauge their journey progress
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<aside> 💡 Location-based applications were mainly used for route planning before the journey rather than navigation in real-time, due to the inaccuracy of GPS positioning in a densely populated city such as Hong Kong
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<aside> 💡 With sound being their primary channel of communication with their devices and the world around them, people with vision loss preferred using non-noise-canceling earphones so they could stay present and alert to their immediate surroundings
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