Accessibility-Infused Maps

Project Description

In this research, we investigate current methods and tools— both technological and non-technological—that people with impairments use to evaluate the accessibility of the built environment (e.g., streets, businesses) and plan and execute travel. Through participatory design, we actively engage our participants in brainstorming and designing the future of what we call assistive location-based technologies (ALTs)—location-based technologies that specifically incorporate accessibility features to help people with impairments explore, search, and navigate the physical world. Thus far, we have primarily focused on people with mobility impairments but the research agenda is much broader and impacts people of all abilities (sensory, cognitive, and physical). In our CHI'16 paper, we explored: What modern technologies do people with mobility impairments use to evaluate the accessibility of the built environment? What role does technology have in making decisions about travel—both a priori (e.g., when planning) and in situ (e.g., when moving about)? How could future technologies be designed to further improve the way they navigate the physical world? At our CHI'18 SIG, we organized the HCI community to discuss grand challenges and potential solutions under the umbrella of 'inclusive maps.'

Publications

Designing Interactive Data-Driven Tools for Understanding Urban Accessibility at Scale

Manaswi Saha

UW CS PhD Dissertation 2022

keywords: urban accessibility, sidewalks, sidewalk assessment, sidewalk accessibility, sidewalk problems, urban visualization, sidewalk visualization

PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • AccessVis • Accessibility-Infused Maps

Visualizing Urban Accessibility: Investigating Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives through a Map-based Design Probe Study

Manaswi Saha, Siddhant Patil, Emily Cho, Evie Yu-Yen Cheng, Chris Horng, Devanshi Chauhan, Rachel Kangas, Richard McGovern, Anthony Li, Jeffrey Heer, Jon E. Froehlich

Proceedings of CHI 2022 | Acceptance Rate: 24.7% (637 / 2579)

keywords: design probes, urban accessibility, geo-visualization, sidewalk accessibility, urban visualization, sensemaking, sidewalk visualization

PDF | doi | Citation | Talk | Project Sidewalk • AccessVis • Accessibility-Infused Maps • Multi-Stakeholder Interviews to Examine Urban Accessibility

Interactive Computational Tools for Assessing and Understanding Urban Accessibility At Scale

Manaswi Saha

SIGACCESS Newsletter 2020

keywords: accessibility, crowdsourcing accessibility, accessible cities, physical world accessibility, street-level accessibility, accessibility map visualizations, crowd-powered streetview accessibility, urban accessibility

PDF | Citation | Project Sidewalk • AccessVis • Accessibility-Infused Maps

Grand challenges in accessible maps

Jon E. Froehlich, Anke Brock, Anat Caspi, Joao Guerreiro, Kotaro Hara, Reuben Kirkham, Johannes Schoning, Benjamin Tannert

Interactions 2019

keywords: accessibility, mobility impairments, gis, accessible urban navigation, accessible cities, visual impairments, accessibility map visualizations

PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • Accessibility-Infused Maps

Interactively Modeling and Visualizing Neighborhood Accessibility at Scale: An Initial Study of Washington DC

Anthony Li, Manaswi Saha, Anupam Gupta, Jon E. Froehlich

Extended Abstract Proceedings of ASSETS 2018

keywords: urban informatics, information visualization, urban data mining, urban accessibility, geo-visualization, walkability index

PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • Accessibility-Infused Maps • AccessVis

SIG: Making Maps Accessible and Putting Accessibility in Maps

Anke Brock, Jon E. Froehlich, Joao Guerreiro, Benjamin Tannert, Anat Caspi, Johannes Schoning, Steve Landau

Extended Abstract Proceedings of CHI 2018

keywords: accessibility, crowdsourcing accessibility, accessible urban navigation, accessible cities, physical accessibility, touchscreen accessibility, accessible interfaces

PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • Accessibility-Infused Maps