VIATOR - A Mobile Travel Companion for Disabled Persons

VIATOR (lat. “the traveler”) is a mobile platform for smartphones that guides disabled (i.e., blind or physiaclly impaired) persons on their journeys using means of public transportation. It appropriately provides up-to-date information concerning connections, delays and alternative transportation options across different transportation companies. It considers physical obstacles and hints for each particular target group (e.g., stairs vs. elevators for wheelchair users), triggers re-planning if required, and provides an open interface for leaving self-created location-bound hints for each desired target group (e.g., blind people guide blind people) such that the mobile phone appears as an active companion throughout the journey. This paper presents the technical architecture for VIATOR, which is based on an open, extensible framework for mobile location-based services (named Digital Graffiti) and illustrates the results of a first prototype implementation.