Designing an indoor navigation system for elderly people’s capabilities

Abstract

The elderly population is increasing and the need of smart home technology and customized health-care solutions is growing rapidly. A common symptom of old age is cognitive impairment, which can in some cases lead to the inability of self-navigation. Numerous indoor navigation systems have proposed to solve such problems. However, previous developers have only to a minor extent included elderly in the design process, despite the user group’s complex needs. The solution presented in this paper is based on using recognizable aids and abstractions to ensure that the new proposed system is something elderly users can relate to and feel comfortable with. Other solutions often require wearable modules, or constant interaction, whereas this system does not require any of the two. In addition to our solution we present five implications when designing an indoor navigation system for elderly people.