Accessible Maps for the Future of Inclusive Ridesharing

“Transcripts from the think-aloud task were reviewed by two researchers using content analysis to identify conceptual codes with a broad coding scheme [27].”

“There are an estimated 338.4 million people experiencing moderate to severe visual impairment worldwide, 7.3 million in the United States alone [2], and this demographic utilizes ridesharing services at significantly higher rates (2-3x) than other groups of people with transportation limiting…”

“Participants were tasked with monitoring each ride as it arrived using a think-aloud method [24] to gain insight into the user’s task-interaction and satisfaction with the interface.”

“…significant utility in developing accurate cognitive maps for BLV users that support novel spatial learning and in-situ navigation [1, 13, 21, 39], disadvantages of this conventional approach include the static (non-real-time) and unimodal nature of the representations, compared to…”

“…demonstrated significant utility in developing accurate cognitive maps for BLV users that support novel spatial learning and in-situ navigation [1, 13, 21, 39], disadvantages of this conventional approach include the static (non-real-time) and unimodal nature of the representations, compared to…”

“This work complements a growing body of work pairing vibration and audio-based feedback to improve graphical access and education [10, 20, 26], as well as mapping [18, 30, 31, 33].”

“This new class of accessible mapping has resulted in positive user performance on dedicated accessibility devices like pin-arrays [41, 42], force-feedback devices [29], as well as on touchscreen-based smart devices [18, 23, 31, 35, 37].”

“This new class of accessible mapping has resulted in positive user performance on dedicated accessibility devices like pin-arrays [41, 42], force-feedback devices [29], as well as on touchscreen-based smart devices [18, 23, 31, 35, 37].”

“Apart from applications in the gaming space [40], the vast majority of vibro-audio solutions to date have relied solely on static user interface elements opposed to real-time tracking of moving objects.”

“This new class of accessible mapping has resulted in positive user performance on dedicated accessibility devices like pin-arrays [41, 42], force-feedback devices [29], as well as on touchscreen-based smart devices [18, 23, 31, 35, 37].”

“This work complements a growing body of work pairing vibration and audio-based feedback to improve graphical access and education [10, 20, 26], as well as mapping [18, 30, 31, 33].”

“…ride, participants were asked three Likert-style survey questions (1-5, strongly disagree to strongly agree) that our team generated based on results from the existing accessibility and ridesharing literature, including estimated arrival time [36], pick-up locations [5], and vehicle behavior [25].”

“Enhanced situational awareness has emerged time and time again as a critical desire among BLV travelers, especially in future automated vehicles [4, 7, 8].”

“…demonstrated significant utility in developing accurate cognitive maps for BLV users that support novel spatial learning and in-situ navigation [1, 13, 21, 39], disadvantages of this conventional approach include the static (non-real-time) and unimodal nature of the representations, compared…”

“…a growing corpus of work has investigated how to enable accessible nonvisual information in the vehicle through auditory/conversational interaction [9], ultrasonic haptics [14], and mid-air gestures [15], far less is known about how to improve information access in the important pre-journey phase…”

“Despite the comparatively high rates of use, understanding the arrival behavior of rideshare vehicles is a real problem among people who are blind and low vision (BLV), with specific concerns related to when the vehicle will arrive, where it will arrive, and if it will arrive at all [6, 17, 25].”

“This work complements a growing body of work pairing vibration and audio-based feedback to improve graphical access and education [10, 20, 26], as well as mapping [18, 30, 31, 33].”

“By contrast, our prototype solution utilizes existing psychophysical design guidelines for tactual perception on touchscreens [22, 32] to develop the first (to our knowledge) real-time vibro-audio ridesharing solution rendered on a smartphone.”

“Strategies for conveying spatial information for BLV users have traditionally relied upon the use of physical tactile maps, which consist of raised elements and braille labels to convey spatial properties [11, 38].”

“Despite the comparatively high rates of use, understanding the arrival behavior of rideshare vehicles is a real problem among people who are blind and low vision (BLV), with specific concerns related to when the vehicle will arrive, where it will arrive, and if it will arrive at all [6, 17, 25].”

“By contrast, our prototype solution utilizes existing psychophysical design guidelines for tactual perception on touchscreens [22, 32] to develop the first (to our knowledge) real-time vibro-audio ridesharing solution rendered on a smartphone.”

“This new class of accessible mapping has resulted in positive user performance on dedicated accessibility devices like pin-arrays [41, 42], force-feedback devices [29], as well as on touchscreen-based smart devices [18, 23, 31, 35, 37].”

“This work complements a growing body of work pairing vibration and audio-based feedback to improve graphical access and education [10, 20, 26], as well as mapping [18, 30, 31, 33].”

“This new class of accessible mapping has resulted in positive user performance on dedicated accessibility devices like pin-arrays [41, 42], force-feedback devices [29], as well as on touchscreen-based smart devices [18, 23, 31, 35, 37].”

“…of work has investigated how to enable accessible nonvisual information in the vehicle through auditory/conversational interaction [9], ultrasonic haptics [14], and mid-air gestures [15], far less is known about how to improve information access in the important pre-journey phase of the trip [16].”

“This work complements a growing body of work pairing vibration and audio-based feedback to improve graphical access and education [10, 20, 26], as well as mapping [18, 30, 31, 33].”

“Enhanced situational awareness has emerged time and time again as a critical desire among BLV travelers, especially in future automated vehicles [4, 7, 8].”

“Real-time tracking solutions like this have long demonstrated positive impacts on user satisfaction and system understanding in transit systems among sighted users [34], but what if the user cannot access that map due to a visual disability?”

“This new class of accessible mapping has resulted in positive user performance on dedicated accessibility devices like pin-arrays [41, 42], force-feedback devices [29], as well as on touchscreen-based smart devices [18, 23, 31, 35, 37].”

“Its components already exist in isolation, haptic and audio guidance for wayfinding [18], multimodal interfaces for situational awareness [15], and embodied robotics for mobility assistance, and what is missing is their integration into the ride itself.”

“…vision, and localization technologies (Fink, Doore, et al., 2023), audio, haptics, and other multisensory cues for interacting with the vehicle (Alsamsam et al., 2023; Fink, Allaban, et al., 2023), dynamic tactile maps (Fink et al., 2024), and environmental sonifications (Gang et al., 2018).”

“Other work has examined pre-journey mapping through smartphone applications [9], us-ing vibrations on the phone to communicate route details.”

“…indicating in advance the approach to a bus stop, thus improving crowdsensing [32], [34], [36], [47], [49], [58], [59], [61], [62], [63], [64], [65], [66], [68], [69], [72], [76], [77], [80], [83], [84], [87], [90], [91], [98], [99], [100], [101], [105], [107], [108], [109], [110], [111], [112].”