Navigation system and method

Abstract

In some examples there is provided a navigation method comprising receiving a request from a user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determining one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtaining an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; providing a route recommendation to the user based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

Description

[0001] NAVIGATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

[0002] 1. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to accessibility informed navigation systems, methods and services.

[0004] 2. BACKGROUND

[0005] Currently, route navigation systems such as Google Maps provide turn-by-turn navigation prompts and graphical overviews to provide directions for final destinations selected by users. These systems may provide such services for vehicle-based users or those using public transport. These systems typically keep user’s up to date about the best route, in terms of expected duration, speed or the absence of impediments such as road works and / or traffic.

[0006] Sidewalk or footpath-based navigation is also available and may include additional information such as elevation.

[0007] In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications, other external documents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the inventions disclosed herein. Unless specifically stated otherwise, reference to such external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents, or such sources of information, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.

[0008] It is an object of the invention to provide an improved navigation method or system, or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.

[0009] 3. SUMMARY

[0010] In some examples, there is provided a computer implemented navigation method comprising receiving a request from a user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location, determining one or more routes between the start location and the destination location, obtaining an accessibility parameter associated with the user, obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter, and providing a route recommendation to the user based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

[0011] This provides improved accessibility-based pedestrian navigation, especially for those who may be more sensitive to path conditions such as rough ground, curbs, inclines and the like. This may include disabled users, the elderly or those with young children.

[0012] In some examples, there is provided a computer implemented navigation method comprising obtaining user accessibility information from a user, obtaining a request from the user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location, obtaining a route recommendation based on the user accessibility information, the start location and the end location, and providing the route recommendation to the user.

[0013] In some examples, there is provided a computer implemented navigation method comprising receiving a user request for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location, determining one or more routes between the start location and the destination location, obtaining an accessibility parameter associated with the user, obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter, and forwarding a route recommendation based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

[0014] In some examples, there is provided a navigation system comprising one or more processors and memory comprising processor executed instructions which when executed cause the processor to: receive a request from a user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determine one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtain an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtain a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; provide a route recommendation to the user based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

[0015] In some examples, there is provided a navigation device comprising a processor and memory comprising processor executed instructions which when executed cause the processor to: obtain user accessibility information from a user; obtain a request from the user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; obtain a route recommendation based on the user accessibility information, the start location and the end location; provide the route recommendation to the user.

[0016] In some examples, there is provided a navigation server comprising a processor and memory comprising processor executed instructions which when executed cause the processor to: receive a user request for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determine one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtain an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtain a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; forward a route recommendation based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

[0017] In some examples, the navigation method further supports multimodal transport, wherein at least one non-pedestrian leg is appended before and / or after the route recommendation that is generated in accordance with the accessibility-based routing described above. The non-pedestrian leg may comprise a private vehicle (“car mode”), a public transport service (“bus mode” and / or “train mode”), or a bicycle route (“cycle mode”). Selection of the non-pedestrian leg can be performed with conventional road- , transit- or cycle-network data. The recommended route returned to the user may therefore combine (i) a pedestrian segment that is optimised for the user’s accessibility needs and (ii) one or more additional transport segments that connect the start location and / or destination location to the pedestrian segment.

[0018] Aspects of the invention may also be said broadly to consist in the parts, elements and features referred to or indicated in the specification of application, individually or collectively, in any or all combinations of two or more of said parts, elements or features, and where specific integers are mentioned herein that have known equivalents in the art to which a said invention relates, such known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth.

[0019] 4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the drawings in which:

[0021] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for assisted navigation according to some examples;

[0022] Figure 2 illustrates alternate routes with environmental features according to some examples;

[0023] Figure 3 illustrates a flow chart of a method of assisted navigation according to some examples; and

[0024] Figure 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method of assisted navigation according to some other examples.

[0025] 5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.

[0027] The term “about” as used herein means a reasonable amount of deviation of the modified term such that the end result is not significantly changed. For example, when applied to a value, the term should be construed as including a deviation of + / - 5% of the value.

[0028] All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and / or ordinary meanings of the defined terms. The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

[0029] The terms “can” and “may” are used interchangeably in the present disclosure, and indicate that the referred to element, component, structure, function, functionality, objective, advantage, operation, step, process, apparatus, system, device, result, or clarification, has the ability to be used, included, or produced, or otherwise stand for the proposition indicated in the statement for which the term is used (or referred to) for a particular example(s).

[0030] The phrase “and / or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and / or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and / or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and / or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one example, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another example, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another example, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

[0031] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and / or B”) can refer, in one example, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another example, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another example, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

[0032] It is intended that reference to a range of numbers disclosed herein (for example, 1 to 10) also incorporates reference to all rational numbers within that range (for example, 1 , 1.1 , 2, 3, 3.9, 4, 5, 6, 6.5, 7, 8, 9 and 10) and also any range of rational numbers within that range (for example, 2 to 8, 1 .5 to 5.5 and 3.1 to 4.7) and, therefore, all subranges of all ranges expressly disclosed herein are hereby expressly disclosed. These are only examples of what is specifically intended and all possible combinations of numerical values between the lowest value and the highest value enumerated are to be considered to be expressly stated in this application in a similar manner.

[0033] The following sets forth specific details, such as particular examples or examples for purposes of explanation and not limitation. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that other examples may be employed apart from these specific details. In some instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, nodes, interfaces, circuits, and devices are omitted so as not obscure the description with unnecessary detail. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the functions described may be implemented in one or more nodes using hardware circuitry (e.g., analog and / or discrete logic gates interconnected to perform a specialized function, ASICs, PLAs, etc.) and / or using software programs and data in conjunction with one or more digital microprocessors or general purpose computers. Nodes that communicate using the air interface also have suitable radio communications circuitry. Moreover, where appropriate the technology can additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable memory, such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that would cause a processor to carry out the techniques described herein.

[0034] Hardware implementation may include or encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, a reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analogue) circuitry including but not limited to application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC) and / or field programmable gate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions. Memory may be employed to storing temporary variables, holding and transfer of data between processes, non-volatile configuration settings, standard messaging formats and the like. Any suitable form of volatile memory and non-volatile storage may be employed including Random Access Memory (RAM) implemented as Metal Oxide Semiconductors (MOS) or Integrated Circuits (IC), and storage implemented as hard disk drives and flash memory.

[0035] Some or all of the described apparatus or functionality may be instantiated in cloud environments such as Docker, Kubenetes or Spark. This cloud functionality may be instantiated in the network edge, apparatus edge, in the local premises or on a remote server coupled via a network such as 4G or 5G. Alternatively, this functionality may be implemented in dedicated hardware.

[0036] Some examples described herein provide a navigation system and method for assisting point-to-point navigation for users of differing abilities, such as wheelchair users, families with young children or elderly with limited mobility. Whilst there may be many routes between a start location and an end location, different environmental features on each route may make them more suitable for some users than others. For example, a pedestrian route including a steep staircase may not be suitable for wheelchair users, but may be navigable by families with young children. Similarly, different environmental features such as slopes of different gradients, gates, concrete sidewalks, unsealed rough ground, fords or rope bridges present different levels of difficulty to different users. Some examples provide route recommendations based on user accessibility information.

[0037] Figure 1 illustrates a navigation system according to some examples. The navigation system 100 comprises a client device 105 such as a mobile or cellular phone and a server 155 such as a networked computer system or cloud-based service which is in communication with the client device, for example using a cellular network link 140. The client device 105 comprises a processor 1 10 coupled to a memory 115 and a graphical user interface (GUI) 130 such as a touch display screen. The memory 115 comprises client navigation instructions 120 and user data 125 associated with a user of the client device.

[0038] The user data 125 may include user accessibility information associated with a user of the client device. User accessibility information may simply comprise user categories such as blind, blind with guide dog, low vision, low vision with guide dog, wheelchair needs support or wheelchair does not need support, non-disabled, young child, deafblind, hard of hearing, deaf, walking aid, power wheelchair, learning / intellectual disability, neurodiverse, robot. In other examples, user accessibility information may include a category and a score to indicate the extent of disability, such as deaf / 5 (partial deafness) or deaf / 10 fully deaf. In other examples, user profiles may be employed, for example a “typical” 80-year-old may include more than one category with corresponding scores such as deaf / 4 and blind / 2.

[0039] User accessibility information may be entered by a user into the client device and may include different or additional information relating to the ability of the user to navigate routes with different environmental features.

[0040] The user accessibility information may be used to generate an accessibility parameter for the user which may be based on an algorithm and provided in the form of one of a number of predetermined profiles, or a set of values for different categories.

[0041] The client navigation instructions 120, when executed by the processor 1 10, cause the processor to perform one or methods related to assisted navigation. Example methods include those described below with respect to Figures 3 and 4.

[0042] The server 155 comprises a processor 160 coupled to a memory 165. The memory 165 comprises server navigation instructions 170, map data 175 and environmental feature data 180. The map data 175 may be third party provided navigation data related to pathways within a mapped region or coverage area and which can be used to generate routes between two points or locations within that coverage area. For example, OpenStreetMap (OSM) available at www.openstreetmap.org may be used to provide map data for a particular country or region. This map data 175 may be stored or cached locally on the server or may be retrieved from the third party data source as required. Nodes or points within the map data may be associated with coordinates such longitude, latitude and optionally altitude. Ways are provided as ordered lists of nodes which may represent features such as paths and crossings. Metadata about different features may also be stored, such as name and physical properties such as width of the sidewalk in m, angle of crossfall in degrees.

[0043] Some additional data may be generated from third party map data, such as automatically placing sidewalks on the sides of roads, calculating the distance between the sidewalk and the road, generating crossings on the map using stored / collected environmental feature data, correctly generating a graph while avoiding problems with overlapping paths such as tunnels, combining the generated sidewalks with accurately mapped sidewalks where available, and calculating uninterrupted stretches of sidewalk between pedestrian intersections to be used by continuously weighted features.

[0044] The environmental feature data 180 may be provided by users and / or moderators and / or operators of the system based on their personal experience of various routes and features. For example, a user upon traversing a paved sidewalk may note a large depression across the path which they may enter into the system together with their location, via a GPS App for example. Such a depression may present a difficulty or even a barrier to certain types of users.

[0045] Table 1 below shows an example environmental feature (crossing) together with difficulty ratings for different users corresponding to different user accessibility information or parameters. This matrix can then be used to assist with user navigation.

[0046] Table 1 : Difficulty ratings for a crossing environmental feature

[0047] This matrix or look-up table includes difficulty rates (also known as confidence scores) for different types of environmental features for different types of users, or accessibility parameters. The difficulty ratings may be derived experimentally or otherwise. In some examples, users may assign these ratings based on their own experience or insights, and assigned the difficulty ratings for different types of user may be averaged to provide the difficulty ratings for that type of user included in the table. The difficulty ratings may be updated from time to time. It is also noted that some environmental features may be helpful rather than considered a difficulty or obstacle. For example, a section of walkway with tactile features may be beneficial for some types of users.

[0048] It is possible to corelate the environmental feature data and the map data so that, for example, a route through a forest can be associated with environmental features on or near that route. This may be achieved using latitude and longitude coordinates, for example with any environmental feature being located within 1 m of the mid-line of the route being associated with that route.

[0049] The server navigation instructions 180, when executed by the processor 160, cause the processor to perform one or methods related to assisted navigation. An example method includes that described below with respect to Figure 4.

[0050] Whilst in this example, user accessibility data 125 and map data 175 and environmental feature data 180 are distributed across client and server devices, in some examples, all data may be provided on one such device, for example for offline use.

[0051] Figure 2 illustrates a map 200 having two routes between a start location 205 and a destination location 210. The two routes 215, 220 may comprise a combination of urban sidewalks, dirt tracks, paved forest paths, open fields, beaches and other traversable surfaces. The routes may be associated with environmental features such as slopes 230, crossings 240, stairs 250, or narrow passageways 260. Other features not on the routes, such as a nearby lake 270, may be included to aide with locating oneself along the routes. The environmental features 230 may be associated with metadata 235 such as location, type and difficulty ratings.

[0052] The difficulty ratings of environmental features on different potential routes may be used together with user accessibility information or parameters to determine a best route for a particular user. In some examples, the accessibility information associated with a particular user may be entered by that user. In some examples, the data about environmental features including location and difficulty rating(s) may be entered by other users of the system. Alternatively or additionally, this environmental feature data may be derived from metadata associated with sections of map data, such as OSM data, and / or the data may be provided by operators or a subset of users authorised to do so, for example trained city planning officials. Figure 3 is a flow chart of a method of assisted navigation which may be implemented on a user device, such as a mobile phone. In this method 300, the user device is a relatively dumb machine which exchanges relevant data with a server in order to provide assisted navigation to the user. The method 300 may be implemented by execution of the client navigation instructions 120 of the client device 105 of Figure 1 , or any other suitable equipment.

[0053] At 305, the method receives user accessibility information. This may be stored on a user device and / or be provided by the user via a GUI. Examples of user accessibility information have been previously described.

[0054] At 310, the method receives a user route recommendation request between a start location and a destination location. This may be implemented by a user viewing a map rendered on a GUI of a user device, and using pins on the map or another method to select start and destination locations.

[0055] At 315, in response to the request, the method transmits the user accessibility information (or a pointer to this) together with the start and destination locations to a server. In some examples, the user accessibility information may have been previously forwarded to and stored on the server, together with a user ID for the navigation system. In this case, the method may simply transmit an indication of the user accessibility information such as the user ID.

[0056] This information is then processed on the server, and at 320, the method receives a route recommendation from the server. The route recommendation may include a single route or may include a number of routes of descending preference. The received route recommendation is based on the user accessibility information and environmental feature data associated with different routes between the start and end locations.

[0057] At 325, the method provides the route recommendation to the user. This may be implemented by superimposing the recommended route or routes over a displayed map on a GUI of the user device. Mapbox (www.mapbox.com) is an example of mapping software that could be used to render the map. Optionally, at 330, the method provides navigation prompts to the user to follow a selected recommended route. The user may be alerted to features along the route that may be relevant to them. For example, audio guidance may include “in 10m, cross the tactile paving across the zebra crossing. In 20m turn left. An accessible seat is in 10m along your route”.

[0058] Figure 4 shows a flow chart for a method of assisted navigation according to some examples. The method 400 may be implemented by the client 105 and / or server 155 of Figure 1 , just the server 155 or any other suitable equipment.

[0059] At 405, the method receives a user route recommendation request between a start location and a destination location. This may be entered at a user device, transmitted to and received by a server.

[0060] At 410, the method determines one or more routes between the start and destination locations. In an example implementation, pgrouting (https: / / pgrouting.org) may be used with OSM data to generate these routes. Graph based map routing algorithms such as Djikstra And A* may be used. Routes are calculated based on edges or links between nodes at which different links intersect. Routes may be determined based on edge weights which in turn may be based on factors such as distance between nodes.

[0061] At 415, the method obtains an accessibility parameter for the user. The accessibility parameter may be derived from accessibility information provided by the user, which may for example categorise the user as one of a number of different user types. Examples may include full wheelchair user, partial wheelchair user, single crutch, double crutch, children under 2, children under 5, adult over 70. In some other examples, the user accessibility may be defined by a range of abilities such as walking or climbing, or by their ability to negotiate certain types of obstacles.

[0062] At 420, the method obtains difficulty ratings for environmental features on the determined routes. This may be achieved by correlating the coordinates of each route with coordinates of environmental features. The difficulty ratings may include certain characteristics of each environmental feature, for example a slope may be associated with a gradient, a gate may be associated with a width, an unsealed path may be associated with a minimum width and a maximum depth change. In an example, a matrix or look-up table may be maintained by the server which associates different environmental features with difficulty ratings dependent on user accessibility information, such as described with respect to Table 1 above. As previously described, look-up tables for each environmental features may include difficulty ratings for different types of users having different mobility issues. At 425, the method determines costs for the environmental features on the determined routes. The cost for a given route is based on a combination of the difficulty ratings of the environmental features of the route and the user’s accessibility parameter - this may be implemented for example as illustrated in Table 1 .

[0063] In an example, route costs are determined by summing the costs or weights associated with each edge of a route. An edge is a link between two nodes which can form part of a route. Each node is a connection between two or more edges.

[0064] The calculation for each edge takes account of some environmental features being point like, such as a gate or a culvert, and some environmental features being distributed over a distance, such as a section of sidewalk with a gradient or a cobbled surface. For each environmental feature of a route, its difficulty rating or confidence weighting is converted into a weight calculation differently based on different factors. If the environmental feature is a discrete point, the difficulty rating or confidence is converted to a relative cost in metres. If the feature represents a continuous effect over a whole stretch of sidewalk (i.e. a route section), it is converted to a multiplier to the default difficulty rating, its length in metres. For a given edge, the additions are summed and the multipliers are produced before being combined with the corresponding route section. A minimum weight bounds the result.

[0065] For example, a route may include a route section or edge being a piece of sidewalk on the side of the road between two intersections has a gradient environmental feature of "4.0-5.9 degrees", as well as a discrete distance between obstacles environmental feature, such as ”0.75-0.99 km”. The user’s current profile is wheelchair without support, and the look-up tables for each of these environmental features has an entry for this type of user, or accessibility parameter. The difficulty rating or confidence of the gradient "4.0-5.9 degrees" for this user profile is 4 and the confidence of distance between obstacles “0.75-0.99” is also 4.

[0066] These difficulty ratings or confidence values are normalised to a number between -1 to 1 , so both .57 in the current example. The normalised value associated with the distributed environmental feature, the route section with gradient, is combined with the length of the sidewalk, 100m. In this example, the normalised value is converted to a multiplier between 0 and 2, and multiplies the length, becoming a cost of 157. For the discrete distance between obstacles (0.75-0.99), this only impacts a single point on the route but is converted to a cost equivalent to a similar length of walking difficulty. This is then added to the cost of the route section with gradient to determine a total cost for the current route. This cost of the obstacle is calculated by scaling the normalised value -1 to 1 value by a multiplier for the environmental feature, for example 1000 for a culvert, which in this example generates a cost of 570. That is a 7 / 7 confidence score would provide a cost of 1000, for the confidence score for this use for this environmental feature of 4 / 7 provides the cost of 570. In other words, the obstacle may represent a full barrier for some users which is as difficult as a kilometre of walking. The combined cost of this route or route section is therefore 157 + 570 = 727.

[0067] In one example, the costs for each edge of a route may be summed for that route and compared with the summed edge costs of other routes to order the routes. This may be used to generate an order list of routes based on difficulty for a user. Alternatively, the routing algorithm may be re-executed with the various edge weights as an input in order to generate possible routes - see for example:

[0068] At 435, the method provides a route recommendation from the determined routes based on the costs for the environmental features. This may be implemented by an algorithm adding the difficulty ratings or costs associated with each environmental feature on each route. A simple addition of all difficulty ratings or scores may be used, or additional weightings may be used based on other factors. The method may select up to a maximum number (e.g. three) routes having the lowest calculated environmental feature costs. For example, for the following set of costs:

[0069] Route 1 5, 10, 2, 7

[0070] Route 2 20, 1 , 1 , 1 , 4

[0071] Route 3 8, 8, 9, 10, 10

[0072] Route 4 1 , 3, 60, 4

[0073] Route 4 may not be recommended for having a cost which is very high (60), and routes 1 and 3 are selected because their highest costs are 10, whilst route 2 has a highest cost of 20 which may correspond to being very difficult for a user. The route recommendation, whether one route or a plurality of best routes, is provided to the user, for example by sending the route recommendation to a client device and / or by displaying this to the user.

[0074] Some routes may be deemed impossible by increasing confidence value weightings. When these are set to infinite weight in the graph, there may sometimes be no viable routes. The system can be configured differently, for example reducing these weightings and allowing users to make their own choices of what risks to take. This can account for additional information that the algorithm may not have access to, such as a user having additional help one day and not the next. In some examples, instead of indicating a route as impossible for a particular user, a very high number may be used instead. This can be visualised in the III by highlighting this route in some way, for example with a red edge and a note of what it means.

[0075] Sometimes environmental features may end up in multiple edges - for example if the feature is close to both edges. This ends up with routes being harder than they might be in reality. The matching may be calculated from the perspective of each individual environmental feature instead - for example associating this with only one edge.

[0076] Multimodal options may be provided in some examples. This may include adding a transport sector or leg from a location remote from the route (e.g. a user’s home) to the start location of the route and / or from the destination location of the route to the same or another remote location. The transport sector may involve travel to / from the route via a car, a cycle or public transport such as a bus and / or train.

[0077] In some examples, this may be implemented using any legacy navigation systems for the transport sector and presenting this seamlessly in the user interface as a single route recommendation from (optionally) remote location to start location or route to destination location of route to (optionally) remote location. For example, a user may select a route recommendation for a scenic walk from their home via bus to the start of the walk, the route of the walk and then a train back home.

[0078] In some examples, the navigation system may provide additional features or functionality as follows. In a car mode, the server identifies an accessible parking, general parking, or kerb-side drop-off point within a predefined radius (e.g. 50 m) of the pedestrian route start and / or destination locations. Road-network routing may be performed between the user’s origin (e.g. home) and that parking node using standard shortest-path techniques, generating driving directions that precede the pedestrian route. In a bus (or train) mode, the server may select a bus stop that is (a) flagged as accessible for the user's difficulty reasons (where relevant data exist) and (b) within a predefined walkable radius of the pedestrian start node. GTFS timetable data may be queried to surface next-departure information. In a cycle mode, the system may select a cycle-network node (for example, a recognised bike-rack or designated shared-path entry) near the pedestrian route start destination and generate a bicycle route to that node, favouring dedicated cycle lanes and low-traffic streets.

[0079] In each case the pedestrian route or leg may be generated as described above, using environmental-feature difficulty ratings weighted by the user’s accessibility parameter. The overall journey returned to the client therefore comprises a concatenation of separately computed segments, allowing a user to complete first- / last-mile travel by an alternative mode without altering the accessibility optimisation applied to the walking portion.

[0080] Any and all references to publications or other documents, including but not limited to, patents, patent applications, articles, webpages, books, etc., presented anywhere in the present application, are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

[0081] As noted elsewhere, the disclosed examples have been described for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting. Other examples are possible and are covered by the disclosure, which will be apparent from the teachings contained herein. Thus, the breadth and scope of the disclosure should not be limited by any of the abovedescribed examples but should be defined only in accordance with claims supported by the present disclosure and their equivalents. Moreover, examples of the subject disclosure may include methods, systems and apparatuses / devices which may further include any and all elements from any other disclosed methods, systems, and devices, including any and all elements corresponding to binding event determinative systems, devices and methods. In other words, elements from one or another disclosed examples may be interchangeable with elements from other disclosed examples. In addition, one or more features / elements of disclosed examples may be removed and still result in patentable subject matter (and thus, resulting in yet more examples of the subject disclosure). Also, some examples correspond to systems, devices and methods which specifically lack one and / or another element, structure, and / or steps (as applicable), as compared to teachings of the prior art, and therefore, represent patentable subject matter and are distinguishable therefrom (i.e., claims directed to such examples may contain one or more negative limitations to note the lack of one or more features prior art teachings).

[0082] Various inventive concepts disclosed herein may be embodied as one or more methods (as so noted). The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, examples may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative examples.

Claims

EXEMPLARY CLAIMS OF THE DISCLOSURE:1 . A computer implemented navigation method comprising: receiving a request from a user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determining one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtaining an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; providing a route recommendation to the user based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accessibility parameter comprises one or more of the following: a disability category for the user; a disability score for the user; a predetermined user profile.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the difficulty rating comprise one or more of the following: an environmental feature category; a plurality of difficulty scores each associated with an accessibility parameter.

4. The method of any one preceding claim, wherein determining one or more routes comprises correlating map data with environmental feature data to generate a connected graph of routes between the start location and the destination location.

5. The method of any one preceding claim, comprising calculating a cost for each environmental feature of the determined routes, the cost dependent on the difficulty rating of the environmental feature and the accessibility parameter for the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature comprising using a look-up table for the environmental feature, the look-up table having difficulty ratings for different accessibility parameters.

7. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature which is distributed along a section of the route comprises multiplying the difficulty rating for the environmental feature with the length of the section of the route.

8. The method of any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein providing the route recommendation is based on the calculated costs for the determined routes.

9. The method of any one preceding claim, responsive to the user selecting the recommended route, generating navigation prompts to the user to follow the recommended route based on a location of the user and / or displaying the selected route to the user and / or generating a displayed sidewalk corresponding to the selected route.

10. The method of any one preceding claim, wherein obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature comprises receiving a report from a second user, the report comprising an identifier for the environmental feature, a difficulty rating for the environmental feature and a location for the environmental feature.1 1 . The method of any one preceding claim, comprising providing a transport sector between a remote location and the start location and / or the destination location of a said route provided by the route recommendation.

12. A computer implemented navigation method comprising: obtaining user accessibility information from a user; obtaining a request from the user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; obtaining a route recommendation based on the user accessibility information, the start location and the end location; providing the route recommendation to the user.

13. The method of claim 12, transmitting the user accessibility information and the request for a route recommendation to a server and receiving the route recommendation from the server.

14. The method of claim 15, comprising: determining one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtaining an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; generating the route recommendation based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

15. The method of any one of claims 12 to 14, responsive to the user selecting the recommended route, generating navigation prompts to the user to follow the recommended route based on a location of the user and / or displaying the selected route to the user and / or generating a displayed sidewalk corresponding to the selected route.

16. The method of any one of claims 12 to 15, comprising: receiving an environmental feature input from the user transmitting the environmental feature input and a location of the user to the server.

17. The method of any one of claims 12 to 16, comprising generating a transport sector between a remote location and a said route provided by the route recommendation.

18. A computer implemented navigation method comprising: receiving a user request for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determining one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtaining an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; forwarding a route recommendation based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the accessibility parameter comprises one or more of the following: a disability category for the user; a disability score for the user; a predetermined user profile.

20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the difficulty ratings comprise one or more of the following: an environmental feature category; a plurality of difficulty scores each associated with an accessibility parameter.

21. The method of any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein determining one or more routes comprises correlating map data with environmental feature data to generate a connected graph of routes between the start location and the destination location.

22. The method of any one of claims 18 to 21 , comprising calculating a cost for each environmental feature of the determined routes, the cost dependent on the difficulty rating of the environmental feature and the accessibility parameter for the user.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature comprising using a look-up table for the environmental feature, the look-up table having difficulty ratings for different accessibility parameters.

24. The method of claim 22 or 23, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature which is distributed along a section of the route comprises multiplying the difficulty rating for the environmental feature with the length of the section of the route.

25. The method of any one of claims 22 to 24, wherein providing the route recommendation is based on the calculated costs for the determined routes.

26. The method of any one of claims 18 to 25, wherein obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature comprises receiving a report from a second user, the report comprising an identifier for the environmental feature, a difficulty rating for the environmental feature and a location for the environmental feature.

27. The method of any one of claims 18 to 26, comprising providing a transport sector between a remote location and the start location and / or the destination location of a said route provided by the route recommendation.

28. A computer program comprising processor code which when executed on a computer causes the processor to perform the method of any one preceding claim.

29. A navigation system comprising one or more processors and memory comprising processor executed instructions which when executed cause the processor to: receive a request from a user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determine one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtain an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtain a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; provide a route recommendation to the user based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the accessibility parameter comprises one or more of the following: a disability category for the user; a disability score for the user; a predetermined user profile.

31. The system of claim 29 or 30, wherein the difficulty ratings comprise one or more of the following: an environmental feature category; a plurality of difficulty scores each associated with an accessibility parameter.

32. The system of any one of claims 29 to 30, to correlate map data with environmental feature data to generate a connected graph of routes between the start location and the destination location to determine one or more routes comprises.

33. The system of any one of claims 29 to 32, to calculate a cost for each environmental feature of the determined routes, the cost dependent on the difficulty rating of the environmental feature and the accessibility parameter for the user.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature comprising using a look-up table for the environmental feature, the look-up table having difficulty ratings for different accessibility parameters.

35. The system of claim 33 or 34, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature which is distributed along a section of the route comprises multiplying the difficulty rating for the environmental feature with the length of the section of the route.

36. The system of any one of claims 33 to 35, wherein providing the route recommendation is based on the calculated costs for the determined routes.

37. The system of any one of claims 29 to 36, to generate navigation prompts to the user to follow the recommended route based on a location of the user and / or display the selected route to the user and / or generate a displayed sidewalk corresponding to a selected route responsive to the user selecting the recommended route.

38. The system of any one of claims 29 to 37, to obtain a difficulty rating for an environmental feature by receiving a report from a second user, the report comprising an identifier for the environmental feature, a difficulty rating for the environmental feature and a location for the environmental feature.

39. The system of any one of claims 29 to 38, comprising providing a transport sector between a remote location and the start location and / or the destination location of a said route provided by the route recommendation.

40. A navigation device comprising a processor and memory comprising processor executed instructions which when executed cause the processor to: obtain user accessibility information from a user; obtain a request from the user for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; obtain a route recommendation based on the user accessibility information, the start location and the end location; provide the route recommendation to the user.

41. The device of claim 40, to transmit the user accessibility information and the request for a route recommendation to a server and receive the route recommendation from the server.

42. The device of claim 41 , to: determine one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtain an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtain a difficulty rating for an environmental features associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; generate the route recommendation based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

43. The device of any one of claims 40 to 43, to generate navigation prompts to the user to follow the recommended route based on a location of the user and / or display the selected route to the user and / or generate a displayed sidewalk corresponding to a selected route responsive to the user selecting the recommended route.

44. The device of any one of claims 40 to 43, to: receive an environmental feature input from the user transmit the environmental feature input and a location of the user to the server.

45. The device of any one of claims 40 to 44, comprising obtain and provide a transport sector between a remote location and the start location and / or the destination location of a said route provided by the route recommendation.

46. A navigation server comprising a processor and memory comprising processor executed instructions which when executed cause the processor to: receive a user request for a route recommendation between a start location and a destination location; determine one or more routes between the start location and the destination location; obtain an accessibility parameter associated with the user; obtain a difficulty rating for an environmental feature associated with at least one of the determined routes, the difficulty rating dependent on the obtained accessibility parameter; forward a route recommendation based on the determined routes, the accessibility parameter and the difficulty rating.

47. The server of claim 46, wherein the accessibility parameter comprises one or more of the following: a disability category for the user; a disability score for the user; a predetermined user profile.

48. The server of claim 46 or 47, wherein the difficulty ratings comprise one or more of the following: an environmental feature category; a plurality of difficulty scores each associated with an accessibility parameter.

49. The server of any one of claims 46 to 48, to correlate map data with environmental feature data to generate a connected graph of routes between the start location and the destination location to determine one or more routes.

50. The server of any one of claims 46 to 49, to calculate a cost for each environmental feature of the determined routes, the cost dependent on the difficulty rating of the environmental feature and the accessibility parameter for the user.

51. The server of claim 50, wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature comprising using a look-up table for the environmental feature, the look-up table having difficulty ratings for different accessibility parameters.

52. The server of claim 50 or 51 , wherein calculating the cost for an environmental feature which is distributed along a section of the route comprises multiplying the difficulty rating for the environmental feature with the length of the section of the route.

53. The server of any one of claims 50 to 52, to provide the route recommendation based on the calculated costs for the determined routes.

54. The server of any one of claims 46 to 53, wherein obtaining a difficulty rating for an environmental feature comprises receiving a report from a second user, the report comprising an identifier for the environmental feature, a difficulty rating for the environmental feature and a location for the environmental feature.

55. The server of any one of claims 46 to 54, comprising providing a transport sector between a remote location and the start location and / or the destination location of a said route provided by the route recommendation.

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