Adaptive haptic exploration of geometrical structures in map navigation for people with visual impairment

In this paper we describe our design of an interactive haptic system aimed at map navigation by a blind computer user. Our system incorporates multi-resolution interaction with different levels of information released at each level. Our initial user study demonstrated the effectiveness of our system in aiding users to perform complex tasks without the assistance of visual input. Our study focused on several crucial facts about haptic exploration under our specific conditions and also identified potential barrios we need to overcome for improving the usability of such systems.