{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T20:45:43Z","timestamp":1769633143513,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,26]],"date-time":"2022-04-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1650931200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Comit\u00e9 National Coordination Action Handicap","award":["Not specified"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Not specified"]}]},{"name":"Region Normandie, European Commission (FEDER)","award":["Not specified"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Not specified"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper introduces the design of a novel indoor and outdoor mobility assistance system for visually impaired people. This system is named the MAPS (Mobility Assistance Path Planning and orientation in Space), and it is based on the theoretical frameworks of mobility and spatial cognition. Its originality comes from the assistance of two main functions of navigation: locomotion and wayfinding. Locomotion involves the ability to avoid obstacles, while wayfinding involves the orientation in space and ad hoc path planning in an (unknown) environment. The MAPS architecture proposes a new low-cost system for indoor\u2013outdoor cognitive mobility assistance, relying on two cooperating hardware feedbacks: the Force Feedback Tablet (F2T) and the TactiBelt. F2T is an electromechanical tablet using haptic effects that allow the exploration of images and maps. It is used to assist with maps\u2019 learning, space awareness emergence, path planning, wayfinding and effective journey completion. It helps a VIP construct a mental map of their environment. TactiBelt is a vibrotactile belt providing active support for the path integration strategy while navigating; it assists the VIP localize the nearest obstacles in real-time and provides the ego-directions to reach the destination. Technology used for acquiring the information about the surrounding space is based on vision (cameras) and is defined with the localization on a map. The preliminary evaluations of the MAPS focused on the interaction with the environment and on feedback from the users (blindfolded participants) to confirm its effectiveness in a simulated environment (a labyrinth). Those lead-users easily interpreted the system\u2019s provided data that they considered relevant for effective independent navigation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s22093316","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,26]],"date-time":"2022-04-26T21:37:53Z","timestamp":1651009073000},"page":"3316","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["The MAPS: Toward a Novel Mobility Assistance System for Visually Impaired People"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7107-1055","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katerine","family":"Romeo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"LITIS Lab, University of Rouen Normandy, 76800 St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9891-2531","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edwige","family":"Pissaloux","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LITIS Lab, University of Rouen Normandy, 76800 St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simon L.","family":"Gay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LCIS Lab, University of Grenoble Alpes, 26000 Valence, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7737-5773","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ngoc-Tan","family":"Truong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LITIS Lab, University of Rouen Normandy, 76800 St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5204-832X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lilia","family":"Djoussouf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LITIS Lab, University of Rouen Normandy, 76800 St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2003.10.013","article-title":"Sensory substitution and the human-machine interface","volume":"7","author":"Kercel","year":"2003","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. 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