Cities Unlocked

Topics: Explore, Move

Research state: Opportunity

Visioning workshop, opportunity: Walking the City

Orientation is exceptionally difficult, with little or no visual cues and confusing soundscapes, alternative solutions are needed to guide…

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Topics: Explore, Interact, Move

Research state: Opportunity

Visioning workshop, opportunity: Street Furniture

Existing street furniture and amenities can be a hindrance to the blind and partially sighted. Shared spaces and open streets can disrupt…

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Topics: Interchange, On Transport

Research state: Challenge

Finding the right person to help

Asking for help from a passer by is often the best way to deal with a complicated or unknown step in a journey. However not all passers by…

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Topics: Explore, Hear

Research state: Challenge

Distinctive and predictable sounds in the urban environment are key source of navigational information

Changes in the sound of traffic, the sounds of different trains or of a shouting market stall holder are all examples of useful and…

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Topics: Explore, Interact

Research state: Challenge

Distinctive and predictable smells in the urban environment can work as useful landmarks

From fish to fried chicken people with sight loss use all sorts of smells as navigational cues. Like any other landmark for a smell to be…

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Topics: Explore, Find

Research state: Challenge

Features of the environment that were not intended as navigation infrastructure are often still used as useful and important landmarks by people with sight loss

If a feature of the environment is detectable by them and always in the same place it can be used as a navigational landmark for someone…

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Topics: Find, Interchange, On Transport

Research state: Challenge

Finding and opening the doors, dealing with the gap between the train and platform and getting aboard can all be challenges for people with sight loss

Once someone has reached the correct platform and identified the train they must find the doors and get on. Predicting where the doors will…

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Topics: Interchange, On Transport

Research state: Challenge

Different layouts of bus stops have a bearing on how easy they are to locate

The first step to catching a bus is locating the stop. Bus stops that have a distinctive tactile profile and are positioned on the kerb…

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Topics: Interchange, People Power

Research state: Challenge

Finding a member of staff who can help is an unpredictable experience

Where a station has an information desk finding a member of staff can just be a matter of arriving at the desk. Where this is not the case…

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Topics: Interchange

Research state: Demonstrator

At the bus stop

Kate heads to the bus stop. As she approaches it she feels the rumble-strip paving beneath her feet and knows it’s coming up on her…

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Topics: Interchange

Research state: Demonstrator

In the station

The station is large and noisy. Kate does an audio sweep of the station using the Microsoft 3D soundscape technology and the layout is…

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Topics: Interchange

Research state: Demonstrator

Boarding the train

As Kate exits the lift she is told her platform is number 10, which is seven metres to her right. As she walks towards it she is told what…

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