Navigation support for old and handicapped persons in urban regions

Today navigation systems for automobiles are highly developed. Furthermore, also for pedestrians and users of public transport technical means for navigation support exist. However, there is a lack of help for handicapped persons. What are the reasons for this situation? The answer is simple: Handicapped persons are a target group for IT-technology that is small in comparison to all other users of navigation systems. Furthermore they demand another database with much more detailed path characteristics and partially other system functionality than conventional navigation systems. This paper describes the user-group-specific demands on technical navigation support and the co-operative development of a corresponding system in the frame of a R&D-project, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research. It concentrates on modelling the potentials and restrictions of movement opportunities of handicapped people and on route optimization.