Toward Blind Travel Support through Verbal Route Directions: A Path Inference Algorithm for Inferring New Route Descriptions from Existing Route Descriptions

The work presented in this article continues our investigation of such assisted navigation solutions where the main emphasis is placed not on sensor sets or sensor fusion algorithms but on the ability of the travelers to interpret and contextualize verbal route directions en route. This work contributes to our investigation of the research hypothesis that we have formulated and partially validated in our previous studies: if a route is verbally described in sufficient and appropriate amount of detail, independent VI travelers can use their O&M and problem solving skills to successfully follow the route without any wearable sensors or sensors embedded in the environment.