# Leveraging Maps and Computer Vision to Support Indoor Navigation for Blind Travelers

> **NIH NIH R01** · SMITH-KETTLEWELL EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 2020 · $416,374

## Abstract

Leveraging Maps and Computer Vision to Support Indoor
Navigation for Blind Travelers
Summary
The goal of this project is to develop a smartphone-based wayfinding app designed to help
people with visual impairments navigate indoor environments more easily and independently. It
harnesses computer vision and smartphone sensors to estimate and track the user’s location in
real time relative to a map of the indoor environment, providing audio-based turn-by-turn
directions to guide the user to a desired destination. An additional option is to provide audio or
tactile alerts to the presence of nearby points of interest in the environment, such as exits,
elevators, restrooms and meeting rooms. The app estimates the user’s location by recognizing
standard informational signs present in the environment, tracking the user’s trajectory and
relating it to a digital map that has been annotated with information about signs and landmarks.
Compared with other indoor wayfinding approaches, our computer vision and sensor-based
approach has the advantage of requiring neither physical infrastructure to be installed and
maintained (such as iBeacons) nor precise prior calibration (such as the spatially referenced
radiofrequency signature acquisition process required for Wi-Fi-based systems), which are
costly measures that are likely to impede widespread adoption. Our proposed system has the
potential to greatly expand opportunities for safe, independent navigation of indoor spaces for
people with visual impairments. Towards the end of the grant period, the wayfinding software
(including documentation) will be released as free and open source software (FOSS).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9899994
- **Project number:** 5R01EY029033-03
- **Recipient organization:** SMITH-KETTLEWELL EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** JAMES M COUGHLAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $416,374
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9899994

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9899994, Leveraging Maps and Computer Vision to Support Indoor Navigation for Blind Travelers (5R01EY029033-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9899994. Licensed CC0.

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