Wizard of Oz studies: why and how
IUI '93 Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Intelligent user interfaces
Personal guidance system for the visually impaired
Assets '94 Proceedings of the first annual ACM conference on Assistive technologies
Drishti: An Integrated Navigation System for Visually Impaired and Disabled
ISWC '01 Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers
Introduction to the talking points project
Proceedings of the 8th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility
In-car gps navigation: engagement with and disengagement from the environment
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Accessible contextual information for urban orientation
UbiComp '08 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Ubiquitous computing
Mobility Impaired Pedestrians Are Not Cars: Requirements for the Annotation of Geographical Data
ICCHP '08 Proceedings of the 11th international conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs
OCSC'07 Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Online communities and social computing
Supporting visually impaired navigation: a needs-finding study
CHI '11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
A computer-based navigation system tailored to the needs of blind people
ICCHP'06 Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs
Pervasive'10 Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Pervasive Computing
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Listen to it yourself!: evaluating usability of what's around me? for the blind
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Spatialized Audio Environmental Awareness for Blind Users with a Smartphone
Mobile Networks and Applications
Uncovering information needs for independent spatial learning for users who are visually impaired
Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
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Much of the information designed to help people navigate the built environment is conveyed through visual channels, which means it is not accessible to people with visual impairments. Due to this limitation, travelers with visual impairments often have difficulty navigating and discovering locations in unfamiliar environments, which reduces their sense of independence with respect to traveling by foot. In this paper, we examine how mobile location-based computing systems can be used to increase the feeling of independence in travelers with visual impairments. A set of formative interviews with people with visual impairments showed that increasing one's general spatial awareness is the key to greater independence. This insight guided the design of Talking Points 3 (TP3), a mobile location-aware system for people with visual impairments that seeks to increase the legibility of the environment for its users in order to facilitate navigating to desired locations, exploration, serendipitous discovery, and improvisation. We conducted studies with eight legally blind participants in three campus buildings in order to explore how and to what extent TP3 helps promote spatial awareness for its users. The results shed light on how TP3 helped users find destinations in unfamiliar environments, but also allowed them to discover new points of interest, improvise solutions to problems encountered, develop personalized strategies for navigating, and, in general, enjoy a greater sense of independence.