ACCESS TOOLS: DEVELOPING A USABLE SMARTPHONE-BASED TOOL

FOR DETERMINING BUILDING ACCESSIBILITY

Drew Williams1, Nadiyah Johnson1, Ola Claire Bangole1, Md. Kamrul Hasan1, Dennis Tomashek2, Sheikh Iqbal

Ahamed1 and Roger O. Smith2

1Marquette University, 2University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Introduction Motivation Previous Work Proposed Approach

◦ Survey Questions◦ Sensor-Based Measurements

Methods Conclusions

Outline

Building accessibility guidelines◦ Created in 1990 as part of the Creation of the

Americans with Disabilities Act. Improve the accessibility of building

Measurement Requests Feature Request

Guideline difficulties ◦ Difficult to understand◦ Time consuming

Toolkits◦ Outline measurements for accessibility

Complex Expensive and require training

Introduction

Why develop a novel accessibility tool?◦ To Save people:

Money No expensive equipment to purchase

Time Easy to understand instructions No training required Future users will use app to query building accessibility

Motivation

Smartphone-based mobile application ◦ Determines the accessibility ratings of building

features Restaurants Outdoors event Schools,etc

◦ Targeted Users Consumer Building accessors Building Owners

Our Solution - AccessTools

Survey Questions◦ Corresponds to a building feature◦ Linked with a Guideline

Is there a ramp? Does the bathroom have a handicap stall?

Scoring◦ The answers provided by the users are tallied and

the building element(accessibility ranking) is scored.

◦ Pre-existing guidelines

How it Works

Mini-tools◦ Mobile app meters that access the users

environment AccessSound AccessLight AccessSlope AccessRuler

Questions◦ Is the lighting in the room appropriate for

reading?

Mini-tools

User Friendly◦ Conforms to users workflow

Survey can be completed in any order Use mini-tools to assist with questions Help tutorials- guide users

Our Goal

Survey Questions◦ Topics correspond to building elements

Follows the original ratings system framework Branching Frame work

Expedite the measurement workflow User can choose questions in any order

Accommodates a pre-existing workflow

Proposed Approach

Use of smartphone sensors◦ Measure immediate environment◦ Gives users the option to use the tools

This conforms to the expertise and workflow the user.

Sensor-Based Measurements

For users that experience difficulty Surveys

◦ Guides users through surveys General help tutorials are offered.

Help Tutorials

Developed using iOS Opening the application

◦ Locates buildings near to the user using the devices GPS and Google Maps API

◦ Prompts user to select a building◦ User is presented with surveys

Methods

User friendly Saves Money Saves Time Eases accessibility rating oricess

Conclusion

Anson, Denis. (2008). ADA-CAT: Making Accessibility Accessible. ADA-CAT: Making Accessibility Accessible. Retrieved 13 Jan. 2014, from http://ada-cat.misericordia.edu/.

Tanviruzzaman, M., Rizia, R., Ahamed, S. I., & Smith, R. (2012, July). Americans with Disabilities Act-Compliance Assessment Toolkit on Smartphone. Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC), 2012 IEEE 36th Annual, pp. 442-451.

Schwartz, J., et al. (2013). Smartphone based solutions to measure the built environment & enable participation. Proceedings of the RESNA 36th Annual Conference on Technology and Disability. Retrieved 13 Jan. 2014, from http://resna.org/conference/proceedings/2013/index.html

Rehabilitation Research Design and Disability Center. (2012) Access Ratings for Buildings Project. Retrieved January 13th, 2014, from http://www.r2d2.uwm.edu/access-ratings-for-buildings/

Rahman, F., et al. (2013). Measuring font signage with a smartphone application for ADAAG compliance assessment. Proceedings of the RESNA 36th Annual Conference on Technology and Disability. Retrieved 13 Jan. 2014, from http://resna.org/conference/proceedings/2013/index.html

Jahangir, A. K. M., Majumder, A., Ahamed, S. I., & Smith, R. O. (2013). iDistanceM: A real-time smartphone-based distance measurement for the Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Assessment Tool (ADACAT). Proceedings of the RESNA 36th Annual Conference on Technology and Disability. Retrieved 13 Jan. 2014, from http://resna.org/conference/proceedings/2013/index.html

References