European Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference & Expo, 30 November - 2 December - Europe's Information Society Thematic Portal

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VIENNA 2008 :: Navigation showcase

the Navigation showcase

People with mobility restrictions (due to disability, ageing, or life circumstances e.g. with babies) can benefit from the increasingly available real-time and location-based information and navigation aids, if those are encompassing accessibility needs. The exhibition space offered visitors a chance to experience for themselves what the technology offers in terms of assistance for mobility. navigation space

Different exhibitors showed how ICT can assist mobility impaired people, indoor and outdoor, using multi-modal transportation or simply walking. The exhibitors ranged from demonstrators by EC-funded research projects to some commercial devices or services. The Navigation Exhibition space was built as a "base-camp" hub, where information was available and where multi-modal visualisation and interaction with maps could be experienced, from which several "paths" could be explored: for white cane users, for frail elderly or for choosing routes suitable to individual needs.

The ENABLED (EU Research Programme) demos illustrate how more senses can be brought into your mapping experiences. You are able to touch and explore digital maps: plan a trip or a hike, explore the surroundings, do hands free navigation, and let vibration guide you to your destination. The new HaptiMap project makes mainstream maps and location based services easier to use and also more accessible, by allowing such interactions via several senses like touch, hearing and vision.

The ASK-IT (EU Research Programme) demo lets you organise your trips according to your accessibility needs and the accessibility characteristics of the places you intend to visit and of the different possible transportation means or paths. You are able to remotely control home appliances, get information on social and personalised services and enjoy all amenities of a trip. Any provider may use this "one-stop-shop" ontology system (further refined within the subsequent OASIS project) to create a connected new service. Over 100 have already done so in eight countries. Additionally for blind users, with the associated SmartLine (The Hague) demo, you can receive direction and geo-information along RFID-equipped tactile lines.

The Sesamonet (JRC Ispra) demo gives you the opportunity to walk with an electronic white-cane, being micro-guided along a virtual tactile line made of RFID tags buried in the floor, to regularly receive geo-localised information and to trigger traffic-lights at your approach.

The Share-IT (EU Research Programme) demo lets you experience moving around with an intelligent iWalker pedestrian aid for elder people, e.g. when going down or up hill, with motors providing personalised compensating forces and with dangerous situations detection. You can also try the Spherik power wheelchair allowing maximum movement freedom within a minimum space. Information on a road-signs picture extraction system is also provided.

Some new GPS systems are presented, including the Trekker Breeze (HumanWare): a screen-less geo-information device for blind users.

Linkage with other developing EC activities such as transport e-Safety, RFID, Galileo positioning, accessibility requirements standardisation and international cooperation, open the perspective of deployment in the near future of large pilots putting together public and private partnership and ensuring interoperability of solutions for citizens and industrial opportunities.