Refine
Document Type
- conference proceeding (article) (18)
- Article (1)
Has Fulltext
- no (19) (remove)
Keywords
- Limited input space (2)
- Mensch-Maschine-Kommunikation (2)
- Projector (2)
- Projektionsapparat (2)
- Smartphone (2)
- 3D printer (1)
- 3D-Drucker (1)
- Accessibility (1)
- App <Programm> (1)
- Authentifikation (1)
This paper introduces an approach for the (semi)automatic generation of worldwide available, detailed tactile maps including buildings and blind-specific features based on recognized illustrators’ guidelines and standards. These guidelines for tactile maps are investigated in order to define a formal rule set and to automatically filter map data accordingly. Using the rule set, our approach automatically abstracts map data in order to generate a 2.1D tactile model providing multiple height levels (layers) which can be printed by usual consumer 3D printers. Based on the popular OpenStreetMap map data, our automated approach allows to generate arbitrary detail maps blind persons individually interested in, without the need for manual adaption of the tactile map. Thus, this approach contributes to the goal to increase the autonomy of blind persons.
Tactile maps can be useful tools for blind people for navigation and orientation tasks. Apart from static maps, there are techniques to augment tactile maps with audio content. They can be used to interact with the map content, to offer extra information and to reduce the tactile complexity of a map. Studies show that audio-tactile maps can be more efficient and satisfying for the user than pure tactile maps without audio feedback. A major challenge of audio-tactile maps is the linkage of tactile elements with audio content and interactivity. This paper introduces a novel approach to link 3D printed tactile maps with mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, in a flexible way to enable interactivity and audio-support. By integrating conductive filaments into the printed maps it seamlessly integrates into the 3D printing process. This allows to automatically recognize the tactile map by a single press at its corner. Additionally, the arrangement of the tactile map on the mobile device is flexible and detected automatically which eases the use of these maps. The practicability of this approach is shown by a dedicated feasibility study.
Tactile maps may contribute to the orientation of blind people or alternatively be used for navigation. In the past, the generation of these maps was a manual task which considerably limited their availability. Nowadays, similar to visual maps, tactile maps can also be generated semi-automatically by tools and web services. The existing approaches enable users to generate maps by entering a specific address or point of interest. This can in principle be done by a blind user. However, these approaches actually show an image of the map on the users display which cannot be read by screen readers. Consequently, the blind user does not know what is on the map before it is printed. Ideally, the map selection process should give the user more information and freedom to select the desired excerpt. This paper introduces a novel web service for blind people to interactively select and automatically generate tactile maps. It adapts the interaction concept for map selection to the requirements of blind users whilst supporting multiple printing technologies. The integrated audio review of the map’s contents allows earlier feedback to review if the currently selected map extract corresponds to the desired information need. Changes can be initiated before the map is printed which, especially for 3D printing, saves much time. The user is able to select map features to be included in the tactile map. Furthermore, the map rendering can be adapted to different zoom levels and supports multiple printing technologies. Finally, an evaluation with blind users was used to refine our approach.
Nowadays, 3D models can be downloaded from the internet and increasingly be printed by low cost 3D printers. In the future, blind people could benefit from this tendency. Unfortunately, many of these models are rather complex and not appropriate for the purely tactile exploration. To obtain quantitative data about how 3D printable models for blind people should be constructed, the tactile exploration can be recorded by video. However, the analysis of these videos is quite time consuming and expensive. Additionally, inaccuracies and masking effects may impede the use of this technique. In this paper we introduce a novel approach to automatically equip existing 3D models with a mesh of conductive wires which enable a touch sensitive surface for the printed 3D objects. These touch sensing 3D models can be printed in one turn by off-the-shelf 3D printers and used as an alternative to video recording. It allows exact registration of when and where the 3D object has been touched. In our multi-touch solution, particular attention has been paid to limit the number of necessary wires between 3D object and sensing electronics. Finally, our approach is evaluated by a feasibility study.
Tactile maps may support blind persons in orientation and understanding geographical relations, but their availability is still very limited. However, recent technologies such as 3D printers allow to autonomously print individual tactile maps which can be linked with interactive applications. Besides geographical depictions, textual annotation of maps is crucial. However, this often adds much complexity to tactile maps. To limit tactile complexity, interactive approaches may help to complement maps by the auditive modality. The presented approach integrates barcodes into tactile maps to allow their detection by standard smartphones' cameras. Automatically, more detailed map data is obtained to auditively support the exploration of the tactile map. Our experimental implementation shows the principal feasibility and provides the basis of ongoing comprehensive user studies.
SmartTactMaps: A Smartphone-Based Approach to Support Blind Persons in Exploring Tactile Maps
(2019)
Despite increasing digitalization of our society many blind persons still have very limited access to predominantly pictorial information such as maps. In this paper we introduce a novel approach to improve the accessibility of maps for blind users by utilizing the abilities of standard smartphones. A major issue of tactile maps is the limited discriminability of the humans' tactile sense. Textual annotation of maps is crucial, but adds much complexity to tactile maps. Additionally, only few Braille labels can be accommodated to maintain legibility. In our approach we link smartphones with adapted tactile maps which transforms the physical maps into interactive surfaces using both the tactile and the auditory modality. We integrate machine readable metadata into these maps which can be recognized by the smartphones' camera to immediately obtain detailed map descriptions from a free global database. During tactile exploration of the map, blind users can request auditory explanations by interacting with the mobile application. An experimental application and a user study demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.
Small mobile devices such as smartwatches are a rapidly growing market. However, they share the issue of limited input and output space which could impede the success of these devices in future. Hence, suitable alternatives to the concepts and metaphors known from smartphones have to be found. In this paper we present InclineType a tilt-based keyboard input that uses a 3-axis accelerometer for smartwatches. The user may directly select letters by moving his/her wrist and enters them by tapping on the touchscreen. Thanks to the distribution of the letters on the edges of the screen, the keyboard dedicates a low amount of space in the smartwatch. In order to optimize the user input our concept proposes multiple techniques to stabilize the user interaction. Finally, a user study shows that users get familiar with this technique with almost no previous training, reaching speeds of about 6 wpm in average.
Haptic feedback may support immersion and presence in virtual reality (VR) environments. The emerging market of consumer devices offers first devices which are expected to increase the degree of feeling being actually present in a virtual environment. In this paper we introduce a novel evaluation that examines the influence of different types of haptic feedback on presence and performance regarding manual tasks in VR. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive user study involving 14 subjects, who performed throwing, stacking and object identification tasks in VR with visual (i.e., sensory substitution), vibrotactile or force feedback. We measured the degree of presence and task-related performance metrics. Our results indicate that regarding presence vibrotactile feedback outperforms haptic feedback which performs better than visual feedback only. In addition, force feedback significantly lowered the execution time for the throwing and the stacking task. In object identification tasks, the vibrotactile feedback increased the detection rates compared to the vibrotactile and force feedback, but also increased the required time of identification. Despite the inadequacies of the still young consumer technology, there were nevertheless strong indications of connections between presence, task fulfillment and the type of haptic feedback.
This paper presents the first results on a user study in which people with visual impairments (PVI) explored a virtual environment (VE) by walking in a virtual reality (VR) treadmill. As recently suggested, we have now acquired first results from our feasibility study investigating this walk-in-place interaction. This represents a new, more intuitive way of for example virtually exploring unknown spaces in advance. Our prototype consists of off-the-shelf VR components (i.e., treadmill, headphones, glasses, and controller) providing a simplified white cane simulation and was tested by six visually impaired subjects. Our results indicate that this interaction is yet difficult, but promising and an important step to make VR more and better usable for PVIs. As an impact on the CHI community, we would like to make this research field known to a wider audience by sharing our intermediate results and suggestions for improvements, on some of which we are already working on.
Fitts’ Gesetz ist Gegenstand vieler Lehrveranstaltungen in der Informatik. Neben der ursprünglichen Quelle existieren mehrere Formeln für verfeinerte Approximationen des Phänomens. Dieses Paper beschreibt einen Ansatz zum Einsatz dieses Themenkomplexes für Lehrzwecke für Studierende des 3. Regelstudiensemesters. Zunächst setzen Studierende den Sachverhalt als Programmieraufgabe mit mehreren zu testenden Variablen um. Im Weiteren führen sie selbst mit einer Benutzerstudie eine Verifikation durch welche im Folgenden ausgewertet wird. Bei der gemeinsamen Diskussion werden die Ergebnisse durch verschiedene Formeln sowie empirische Grundlagen wie die Ausreiserproblematik erörtert. Durch dieses Lehrkonzept, welches über mehrere Jahrgänge verfeinert wurde, werden mehrere Themen der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion mit praktischen Tätigkeiten für die Studierenden verknüpft. Ziel dessen war, Studierende in die softwaretechnische Umsetzung, die Durchführung und Auswertung der Studie zu involvieren und ihnen damit eine ganzheitliche Sicht auf die Zusammenhänge unterschiedlicher Sachverhalte aus dem Bereich der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion zu geben.