# Indoor-Guided Navigation for People Who Are Blind: Crowdsourcing for Route Mapping and Assistance
## 2 Survey of BSVI Social Networking in the Context of Navigation Needs
For instance, over 60% of blind experts were unsatisfied or highly unsatisfied with existing technological tools for indoor navigation. They also placed more emphasis on the needs of people who are BSVI for self-reliant autonomy when using ETAs to navigate indoors (around 45% were inclined to use an ETA for navigation indoors instead of asking for help). A semi-structured interview of 25 BSVI experts indicates that current ETAs are not sufficient for indoor navigation and orientation applications. They pointed out the lack of real-time, user-friendly, experience-centric, and participatory Web 2.0 technologies employed for specialized BSVI needs. In other words, the current situation concerning the high potential of modern social networks, web 2.0 media apps, smartphones, and other ICT (information and communication technology) tools does not meet the requirements of people who are BSVI. Figure 1: Survey responses from 78 people who are BSVI. BVSI experts were also interviewed concerning the usage of smartphone apps and Web portals. For instance, questions such as \"What smartphone apps, web portals, and social networks do you know, and which of them do you use to communicate with sighted people?\" and \"What smartphone apps, web portals and social networks, specifically designed for the blind, do you know?\" revealed that the most popular apps and social networks used by people who are BSVI are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. Additionally, people who are BSVI use Telegram, Youtube, Facetime, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, Messenger, Zello, MySpace, Tinder, TeamTalk, and Eskimi apps. Only 5 out of 25 BSVI experts mentioned apps or websites specifically designed for the blind: Bee my eyes, Telelight--an accessible telegram client, Voreil, Talking Communities, FourSquare/BlindSquare, Playroom, Applevis.com, Elvis, blindhelp.net, Blindbargens, ACB network, and RNIB. Blind experts also shared their opinions on more specific questions regarding social networking tools used for navigation. For instance, \"Are you familiar with social networking tools that support sharing of navigation information (directions) between the blind and/or sighted volunteers?\" Surprisingly, most BSVI respondents were not aware of such tools, and only a few mentioned WhatsApp, Be my eyes, and the Google Groups \"Eyes-free group\". Thus, social networking tools used for navigation are not well known or popular. During additional interviews, we collected a few more discouraging details. For instance, social networking tools (i) are mostly in English and do not operate in other national languages; (ii) are run by casual volunteers who are not accustomed to dealing with the specific BSVI problems; and (iii) use applied technology that is not specialized enough to provide real-time help of sufficient quality. Figure 2: Survey responses from 25 BSVI experts. Other questions included \"Would you be willing to pay for the functionality of an electronic travel aid listed below? How much?\" From these, we identified value-added and monetary estimations of each ETA functionality. About 80% of the top-ranked ETA needs included navigation and orientation functionality outdoors and indoors, including recognition of stairs, elevators, and doors; navigation directions; and assistance to return to a specific location.