Accessible Urban Navigation App for Visually-Impaired Pedestrians in Indian Cities

Objective: To develop a mobile application that enables visually-impaired pedestrians in urban Indian areas to safely navigate public spaces with real-time obstacle alerts.

Visually-impaired individuals in India face significant challenges navigating city streets due to inaccessible infrastructure, lack of tactile guidance, and unpredictable obstacles. This restricts their mobility, independence, and access to essential services, exacerbating social inequality. The project aligns with SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities by targeting accessibility for a vulnerable community.

The proposed solution is a low-cost smartphone application that leverages GPS, crowdsourced mapping, and computer vision to provide real-time audio navigation and obstacle alerts tailored to Indian urban contexts. The app will integrate open street data, local context mapping, and accessible user interfaces to ensure usability for the visually-impaired.

Key features include turn-by-turn audio navigation in Indian languages, real-time obstacle detection using the phone camera and AI models, integration with OpenStreetMap and local open datasets, and a community reporting tool for hazards. The working prototype will be pilot-tested with visually-impaired users and NGOs in a selected city sector.

Measurable impact will focus on increased independent mobility (tracked via user journeys and feedback), reduction in navigation incidents, and user adoption rates. The solution is designed for scalability to other cities, leveraging public datasets and open APIs for continual improvement.