The aim of this EU-funded (FP7) project is to develop multimodal location-based services (LBS) that are accessible also by special user groups and support their use of spatial information. The project’s assumption is that that with better perceptualizations (visualization also for other senses than the visual) and interface designs one could greatly increase both the usability and the accessibility of navigational systems, especially for special user groups (elderly and visually impaired people). Thus, the project will focus on the following research questions: 1) What information is relevant for the user in different situations? 2) How should this information be accessed and represented multimodally? 3) How could design practices within the industry be supported and modified to make sure developed applications make use of the knowledge gained in the project?

The outcome of the project will be a set of design guidelines together with an adaptable toolkit that will help application developers to design easier to use maps and LBSs that are accessible also by special user groups. Design methods and tools will also be developed so that embedding accessibility issues into and making them an integral part of the future design and development processes will be easier. Finally, example applications to illustrate the use of the toolkit will be developed. The project will results as a set of design guidelines and an adaptable toolkit for application developers, design methods and tools for embedding accessibility issues into future design and development processes, example applications for the use of the toolkit.

 

The HaptiMap project is coordinated by Lund University, Sweden. The other partners in the project are Navteq, Siemens, BMT Group, CEA, ONCE, Finnish Geodetic Institute, University of Glasgow, OFFIS, Queen’s University, Fundacion Robotiker, Kreis Soest, GeoMobile GmbH and Lunds kommun. HaptiMap is a four year integrated project. It has a total budget of 9 270 087 Euros and receives financial support from the European Commission in the Seventh Framework Programme, under the Cooperation programme ICT - Information and Communication Technologies (Challenge 7 - Independent living and inclusion) with 6 670 000 Euro.