RESEARCH ON AN INDOOR NAVIGATION TOOL
Ms. Nimalika Fernando with the support of Ms. Manique Gunaratne are doing a
project to develop better path planning methods for the navigation of vision impaired
people inside buildings, to be used by electronic tools. It is a PhD project conducted at
the Curtin University of Technology in Australia in January 2020. As part of the
project a survey was done to:
(a) interviewing people with reduced vision on what methods they use and what
support they may expect from an indoor travel aid.
(b) Observing how people with reduced vision find their way inside buildings to find
their way.
(c) interviewing Orientation & Mobility Instructors on indoor navigation methods
and what support they may expect from an indoor travel aid for their trainees.
Around 30 vision impaired participants from the EFC Specialised Training &
Disability Resource Centre gave their ideas on the above matter. The observational
study was also done at the Centre.
This research will have a positive impact on the vision impaired community in the
long run.
Picture description for vision impaired persons:
Manique and Nimalika.
Manique Gunaratne
Manager – Specialise Training and Disability Resource Centre of The Employers’ Federation
of Ceylon
