Accessible Maps - Barrierfree Maps to Improve Occupational Mobility

Mobility is a fundamental aspect of our work and private life. In particular, the execution of official journeys, e.g. within the scope of workshops, is a prerequisite in many professions. Generally, career opportunities and chances can be improved when the possibility, feasibility and capability for spatial mobility of employments exist.

However, for blind and visually impaired people or people with other physical disabilities, it can be challenging to orientate themselves in a building. Moreover, public floor plans and escape plans are often missing crucial accessibility information for people with disabilities. Furthermore, escape plans and floor plans are rarely accessible for people with disabilities or cannot be used in a mobile way.

The project Accessible Maps aims to make indoor mobility more accessible for people with disabilities in the occupational context through the providence of accessible, individual building and floor plans, enriched with accessibility information. In particular, the availability of accessible floor plans should be improved through an automatic generation process. For this purpose, an approach is going to be used in which floor plans are automatically generated from existing escape plans using innovative computer vision and deep learning methods. These plans will then be enriched with accessibility information.

Project Objectives

Improvement of indoor mobility of people with disabilities in the occupational context
Automatic generation of accessible, individual building and floor plans
Integration of accessibility information into the generated plans
Improvement of autonomy and security in the context of spatial mobility in buildings

Information about the Project

Duration: September 2019 to August 2022

Cooperation Partners: Study Center for the Visually Impaired at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (https://www.szs.kit.edu/1390.php)

Founded by: The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) under the grant number 01KM151112

Further, up-to-date information on the project can be found on the following website: www.accessiblemaps.de

Our Team

The international and interdisciplinary team of the TU Dresden and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology are working together on innovative and new solutions to improve mobility within buildings.