Beyond GPS

Marine Symposium on wayfinding

UC Santa Cruz,  July 14, 2017

This symposium brings together researchers and practitioners involved in technologies supporting independent travel for people who are blind. Accessible GPS apps already enable coarse localization and wayfinding in the outdoors; however, GPS has low spatial accuracy, and doesn't work indoors. New technologies are called for to address situations requiring fine-grained localization, as well as indoor wayfinding. This symposium highlights recent advances in a number of promising directions, including iBeacons for indoor navigation and accessible public transit, visual-based localization, and remote sighted assistance.

Schedule of presentations

11:00-11:10 – R. Manduchi (UCSC) - Introductory remarks

11:10-11:30 – H. Takagi, C. Asakawa (IBM Research Tokio/CMU): NavCog: Large-scale indoor navigation system for people with visual impairments

11:40-12:00 – V.J. Sahi (Aira): Aira: Instant access to information

12:10-12:40 – R. Manduchi (UCSC): RouteMe2: Assisted public transit

 12:50-1:30 – Catered lunch

1:30-2:00 – J. Coughlan (SKERI): Leveraging maps and computer vision to support indoor navigation for blind travelers

2:10-2:40 – D. Jadav (IBM Research Almaden): Indoor localization using beacons

2:50-3:20 – K. Casey (Sendero Group): Emerging accessible indoor navigation technologies: Bringing it all together

3:30-3:50 – D. Ahmetovic, C. Asakawa (IBM Research Tokyo/CMU): Research challenges for deploying large-scale indoor navigation system for people with visual impairment

4:00-4:20 – G. Flores, R. Manduchi (UCSC): Safe return: Route backtracing using inertial sensors

4:30 – R. Manduchi (UCSC): Concluding remarks

Directions to the E2 building

Please park in the UCSC Core West Structure (information on how to reach it available here). Don't forget to pick up your parking permit at the main entrance kiosk  at the base of campus (located past the big wooden sign marking the campus entrance). Your name will be in a list available to the booth attendant (tell then you are visiting Roberto Manduchi in the CE Department).  

After you park, as you walk outside the East side of the lot, turn left and cross McLaughlin Drive. You will see the Baskin Engineering concrete building in front of you; the Engineering 2 (E2) glass building is behind it. We are meeting in room E2 215, at the West end of the building. My cell phone number is (831)295-2855.