根據國際非政府組織(NGO)世界盲人聯盟(World Blind Union)2014年的統計報告，全球約有 2.85 億位視障者，其中在台灣衛生福利部的身心障礙者人數統報中提及，視障者人數近十幾年來持續成長，因此如何協助視障者在日常生活有更好的體驗將會是重要的議題。本研究主要是探討 iBeacon 定位技術如何幫助視障者在室內環境中獨自活動，並且設計及建置一套導引之系統雛型，讓視障者能了解自己所在的空間位置，近而導引視障者抵達目的地。本系統主要使用智慧型手機結合 iBeacon定位技術，搭配穿戴裝置，協助導引視障者於室內環境中，藉由相關穿戴裝置及 iBeacon 的整合與環境連結，另外藉由網際網路與關注者(例如:室內環境管理人員、視障者親友等)做連結，提升視障者獨自在不熟的室內環境中的安心感，也讓關注者可以了解視障者的狀況。本研究亦採用適合評估系統雛型的SUMI問卷以了解受測者的使用回饋。研究結果顯示，本系統雛型，在語音提示的設計上能在操作系統及導引過程有效的幫助使用者，而使用者在評估系統的學習性(Learnability)面向也相當正面。同時，整體的系統滿意度(Global)面向的回饋也顯示本系統雛型滿足了使用者的需求,並且提升使用者在室內空間獨自行走的信心。
According to the statistics of the international NGO “World Blind Union”, there are approximately 285 million people who are blind or partially sighted globally. Besides, the statistics of Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare reported that the number of the visually impaired persons kept growing in this decade, and therefore how to assist them to have better experiences in their daily lives will be an important topic. In this study, the researcher investigated how iBeacon positioning technology assisted the visually impaired to move by themselves indoors; in addition, the researcher had designed and constructed a prototype of guidance system to allow them to know their positions and further it could guide them to arrive at their destinations. This system combined smart phones, iBeacon positioning technology and wearable devices to guide them in indoor environments; besides, the linkage of the internet and caregivers (such as administrators of indoor environments or their relatives/friends) could make them feel more relieved by themselves in unfamiliar indoor environments and also could allow caregivers to understand their conditions. In this study, the SUMI questionnaire suitable for assessing a system prototype was used to understand the subjects’ feedbacks in their usage. The results indicated that voice prompts could effectively help users in the system operation and the guiding process; besides, they had positive feedbacks on the dimension of learnability in the system evaluation. Moreover, the feedbacks of the dimension of global system satisfaction also showed that this prototype system had satisfied their needs and also promoted their confidence as they walked independently indoors.
