**1. Introduction: why another orientation and navigation tool?**

Geographic information science is a well-established approach in the context of navigation, wayfinding, and orientation—as long as the focus is given to motorized vehicles, e.g., Google, OpenStreetMap, etc. With rising importance of sustainability issues during the last decades, alternative modes of transportation gained interest, and geographic information systems (GISs) were progressively used, also for analyzing cycling and walking behavior [1, 2]. A GIS is an analytical tool to manage, store, analyze, and visualize spatial information. Simplified it can be seen as a digital map including a database to access and investigate spatial relations.

Narrowing down wayfinding and orientation to pedestrians and especially to persons with disabilities, up to now research is still at the beginning. However, demographic changes, the rising demand for (social) sustainability, and therefore strategies of equity and inclusion to generate diversity and to overcome barriers in Western societies force geography to provide (spatial) answers for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The need for autonomous and independent mobility underlines the demand of people with disabilities and the elderly for social equity and their full participation in society and in societal life [3, 4]. Contrary to these requirements, the design and development of urban space, the lack of offers in (public) transport infrastructure and information, and barriers in the built environment and above all in the mindset of civil society still exclude people with disabilities. Particularly exposed are people with visual impairments or legal blindness; they consequently experience a reduced mobility in their daily life. This can be underpinned by some statistical figures, e.g., more than 50% of persons with visual impairments in Austria perceive themselves as moderate up to severely mobility impaired [5].

Existing GIS applications to increase the mobility of people with disabilities can be categorized upon various parameters; among others one key element is the type of disability [6]. GIS approaches for persons physically restricted in their mobility like wheelchair users, persons with crutches, parents with strollers, or elderly people show a wide variety in theoretical discussions as well as in practical implementations, mostly focusing on accessibility issues [7–11]. Solutions to support independent mobility for persons who are visually impaired or blind often remain either on a theoretical level or as project ideas, as special solutions or prototypes. Concerning their spatial extent, they are typically valid for a limited space like university campuses or small districts of cities; others require cost-intensive devices that are sometimes yet difficult to manage [12, 13].

However, people with visual impairments or blindness can benefit from the possibilities to plan and prepare their activities in space, as long as the supporting tools fulfill a number of requirements. Tools have to provide information about accessibility of facilities and the built environment and additionally have care for accessibility of information through a manageable and easy-to-operate user interface and an appropriate description of route directions.

The paper presents the theoretical background of a "GIS4all" and, in particular, the results of the project "ways2see," which implements the theory for people with visual impairments or blindness. GIS4all is a framework, which intends to conceptualize the scope of action for the application of an inclusive, trans-, and interdisciplinary GIS providing answers for spatial information, orientation, and navigation issues of people with and without disabilities. Since persons with visual impairments or blindness require complex and alternative spatial information for wayfinding, the focus of the application project "ways2see" was given to this user group.

The design and product development of the assistive tool ways2see are supporting orientation and navigation as pre-trip planning instrument for people with visual impairments or blindness. ways2see provides information on facilities as well as routing information adapted to the needs of the target group, which will support them or assist persons in preparing ways in so far unknown environments. The goal of ways2see is twofold. (1) The design and presentation of information for the target group include special cartography on the one hand and on the other hand, an applicable web-user interface at the front end which is capable for screen readers. (2) The individual selection and description of routes presented by the tool are comparable to the description used by orientation and mobility (O&M) trainers,

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*The Application of Geographic Information Systems to Support Wayfinding for People…*

Desktop and Server, and the application ways2see is based on ArcGIS Web AppBuilder. The development embodies a participative and iterative process, following the motto of inclusion, "nothing about us without us," not only with the goal to produce an assistive tool for the target group but also to raise awareness in society

including hints and landmarks for orientation, warning of obstacles, and simulta-

The underlying network for pedestrian routing was developed using ArcGIS

The origins of tools intended to increase the mobility of people with visual impairments or blindness can be seen in tactile maps, reaching back hundreds of years [14]. With the evolvement of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the mid of the last century, electronic and assistive tools gained importance [13]. Since then, various approaches, using wearable devices (e.g., electronic white canes) and sight replacing aids up to robotic help, have been developed and evaluated from various scientific backgrounds (e.g., see [15, 16]). Geographic information systems as integrative part of mobility solutions do not play an important role in these reviews; sometimes they are even not mentioned. One reason for this can be seen in the mapping part of the software, since (digital) maps—regardless on which device they are presented—barely meet the needs

Although showing a bottleneck with maps, GISs offer main advantages: the possibility to address spatial relationships as well as processes and present spatial analytical results. Based on the spatial and therefore geographical perception, GIS applications for mobility issues of people with visual impairments or blindness can be split into four main scopes: (1) the field of application or use, (2) the spatial environment, (3) the information and navigation aspects, and (4) the presentation and communication of information and/or the analytical results. The following discussion reflects the literature mainly since 2010, and a detailed description of

(1) An overall classification of the applications is dealing with the category and

(2) Taking a closer look at the spatial environment, the orientation and navigation support give emphasis either on indoor settings [29, 30], outdoor navigation [31–33], or a combination of both [34]. Golledge et al. [35] elaborated one of the basic approaches, discussing the spatial context of mobility for people with visual impairments or blindness. Since different technologies have to be integrated to define the position of the person along a route on-trip, a combination with different technologies (RFID, Bluetooth, DGPS, etc.), regarding the surrounding where the

purpose of usage. This reflects on the one hand the application fields like tourism purposes, emergency management or planning, and decision support tools [18–22]. On the other hand, the purpose of the trip can be split up upon the use in form of pre-trip planning or on-trip planning. Pre-trip applications show a focus in web applications and discuss various accessibility aspects of maps (user-oriented content, design, and functionalities), the design of the interface, and the degree of interactivity as well as the communication to the users [22–24]. With the availability of GPS, on-trip applications gained interest. They are mainly used for navigation and routing in different surroundings, using various devices (smartphones, wearable and portable assistive technology, etc.). Additionally, they give special interest to critical situations along the routes, e.g., intersections or obstacles [25–28].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89308*

neously avoiding barriers in the routing.

for the topics of disability and inclusion.

**2. Theoretical background**

of visually impaired users.

approaches before is given in [16, 17].

#### *The Application of Geographic Information Systems to Support Wayfinding for People… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89308*

including hints and landmarks for orientation, warning of obstacles, and simultaneously avoiding barriers in the routing.

The underlying network for pedestrian routing was developed using ArcGIS Desktop and Server, and the application ways2see is based on ArcGIS Web AppBuilder. The development embodies a participative and iterative process, following the motto of inclusion, "nothing about us without us," not only with the goal to produce an assistive tool for the target group but also to raise awareness in society for the topics of disability and inclusion.
