Design of Navigation Applications for People with Disabilities: A Review of Literature and Guideline Formulation

A mobile navigation application (App) can provide flexible wayfinding guidance, save time, and reduce stress for people in unfamiliar buildings or environments. Wayfinding is also a challenging task for individuals with disabilities. The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive set of guidelines for designing navigation apps for individuals with disabilities. A review of the literature was conducted on scientific studies and commercially available navigation apps using Web of Science, Compendex, ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, Wiley Online, Science Direct, SpringerLink, Taylor & Francis, Apple store, and Google Play. The findings led to 82 design guidelines categorized based on Nielsen's usability principles. The guidelines were implemented in an interface prototype to help users navigate places within a shopping mall. The prototype demonstrated that the proposed design guidelines are easily applicable and provided a roadmap for the future design of navigation apps for people with different types of disabilities.