=Paper= {{Paper |id=Vol-2917/paper37 |storemode=property |title=Information System for Finding Inclusive Places for People with Disabilities |pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2917/paper37.pdf |volume=Vol-2917 |authors=Vasyl Andrunyk,Dmytro Shostak |dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/momlet/AndrunykS21 }} ==Information System for Finding Inclusive Places for People with Disabilities== https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2917/paper37.pdf
Information System for Finding Inclusive Places for People with
Disabilities
Vasyl Andrunyk and Dmytro Shostak
Lviv Polytechnic National University, S. Bandera Street, 12, Lviv, 79013, Ukraine

                Abstract
                As a result of work on this paper, an information system for finding locations suitable for
                people with disabilities is created in the form of browser and mobile versions of the application,
                which allows you to search for such sites and access information about places.
                This work describes in detail the process and result of creating a backend of the resource, its
                user interface and the principles of interaction of system elements with each other and
                characterizes the difference between a browser and mobile versions of the service. Also, the
                existing analogues of services with similar goals and targets were analyzed, their advantages
                and disadvantages were identified, and the results of this analysis were taken into account
                before the development phase. The frontend part of the information system is implemented
                using the usual web development tools such as HTML / CSS and Javascript. Specific
                technologies used to create the user interface are React and jQuery. The server part of the
                application is developed using Node.js technology. The most important factors that were taken
                into account when designing and developing the information system were flexibility, speed
                and stability, the overall efficiency and relevance of the technologies used, and the prospect of
                long-term product support that does not require much resources and effort. Regarding the user
                interface configuration, the main conditions for development were its accessibility and
                convenience in providing users with uninterrupted access to all of the systems’ functions.

                Keywords 1
                Information system, user interface, software product, mobile version, frequently asked
                question, support team, web application, detailed location information, web page, mobile
                application, web version, inclusive place, Ukrainian user, people with disabilities

1. Introduction
    In Ukraine, there is a pretty numerous category of citizens in need of special conditions for everyday
life, such as people with disabilities. According to official data, this population category includes about
2 million 600 thousand people [1], which is about 6% of the total population. Among them are more
than 240 thousand people with disabilities of the 1st group, more than 900 thousand people with
disabilities of the 2nd group, and more than 1.3 million people of the 3rd group. These data indicate the
presence in Ukraine of a relatively large group of people for whom the developed information system
will be relevant and valuable. This work aims to develop an information system designed for use by
people with special needs and aimed in its main features to improve access for users to relevant
information about the surrounding infrastructure and their state of adaptation to the unique needs of
people in wheelchairs. The task set before the developer of the information system was to create, design,
and maintain a software product in the form of browser and mobile versions of the application to find
and obtain information about the suitability of places to visit people with disabilities.
    The main idea of the created information system is to provide users with access to information about
the suitability of various locations and infrastructure elements to provide services to visitors with special

MoMLeT+DS 2021: 3rd International Workshop on Modern Machine Learning Technologies and Data Science, June 5, 2021, Lviv-Shatsk,
Ukraine
EMAIL: vasyl.a.andrunyk@lpnu.ua (V. Andrunyk); dmytroshostak@gmail.com (D. Shostak)
ORCID: 0000-0003-0697-7384 (V. Andrunyk); 0000-0002-7438-1382 (D. Shostak)
             ©️ 2021 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
             Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
             CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
needs. With the help of the application, users will conveniently and quickly access up-to-date and
verified information presented in an organized form through the user interface of the mobile or browser
version of the application.
    The current level of development of most private and public institutions and infrastructure elements
of Ukrainian settlements does not sufficiently or not meet the needs of citizens with special needs. It is
due to both the obsolescence of the infrastructure in many cases and the disregard for the needs of
people in wheelchairs when building new elements or renovating existing locations.
    Despite the overall positive dynamics in this direction, the problem is still very acute. Efforts by
international, governmental, and volunteer organizations to raise awareness of people with disabilities
in Ukraine to improve their living conditions and function as full members of society are currently
insufficient, as are the resources allocated to address the problem.
    At the same time, the spread of information technology, its more profound penetration into citizens'
daily lives, and the gradual decline in the cost of electronic devices and software for them make access
to such technologies increasingly accessible to all segments of the population.
    Therefore, in the future, such software solutions as what is done in this work will become more
popular over time and, accordingly, will help more people in need.
    Despite attempts by various teams and companies to implement the idea of a service for finding
inclusive locations designed to facilitate travel and visits to places by citizens with special needs, after
analyzing existing analogues, it was recognized that none of them could provide practical activities
based on local characteristics. also make the service fully accessible to users. During the design of the
information system, opportunities were laid to expand the service's coverage of a more extensive list of
locations that are constantly growing, as well as to add new features to the software product. Since the
primary purpose of the information system is to provide users with access to information on the
inclusiveness of various locations, it can be considered that the object of study is information on the
inclusiveness of places, ways to identify and present them using information tools and tools. The subject
of the study, respectively, is the analysis, processing of data on the inclusiveness of locations and their
presentation to the user. To implement such a system, it was necessary to identify and analyze in detail
factors such as some aspects of infrastructure in institutions, such as ramps or specially equipped toilets
or specific characteristics of the sites themselves. Then, you determine the level of influence of these
various factors and their combinations, which may have different importance for different categories
and types of locations, institutions' suitability, and the fair reflection of such places.

2. Related works
2.1. Analysis of existing products, description of their functionality
    Before implementing the software product, an analysis of the existing developed information
systems for finding inclusive places for people with special needs and strategies partially solves this
problem. However, a significant issue was also that in the domestic market of information systems,
systems sharpened for this problem are not, or they are not very popular. Therefore, the selected
methods for analysis list the main functions that solve similar problems with those that formed the basis
of product creation while working on this work and future improvement.
    Table 1 lists the applications found that are designed to help people with disabilities in their daily
lives. In most of them, the aspect is the comfortable movement of people with disabilities.

Table 1
List of information systems selected for analysis
   The name of the application            Country developer                     Availability today
           Inclusive Britain                 Great Britain                              –
             Wheelmate                         Germany                                  +
             AccessAble                      Great Britain                              +
             Handiplanet                        France                                  +
             Wheelmap                          Germany                                  +
2.1.1. Inclusive Britain
   This service was developed for people with inclusive needs by developers from the UK. An
important feature is that it was one of the first services of this kind. Also, it was an innovative
development that contained the best-designed resource among such applications at the time of its
creation. Fig. 1 shows the interface of this application.




Figure 1: Type of interface Inclusive Britain.

    A feature of the application was the ability to select the priority of the search, for a person with
disabilities, in the case of accompanying people. If people with disabilities are accompanied, you can
specify this in the application, and the search for locations will include places where you can use it.
Similar to the previous one, it was possible to choose the search for places where you can go without
accompanying persons or persons who use crutches or have the opportunity to move independently. In
addition, there is a function to add feedback and route description from an individual user to other users
of the application. On the downside, the app was designed to meet users' needs in the UK and was filled
with geolocation information. There is also no search and viewing of recreation facilities on the
interactive map of the area. Still, it is possible to choose the categories of establishments to search, view
the remaining distance to overcome before arriving at a particular location. Functionality was also
available, allowing visits to a public institution with pets and the ability to search for toilets, which
provided the opportunity to visit them in a wheelchair. Moreover, the ability to access through the
browser and mobile applications of this application is currently unavailable for download. Given the
above shortcomings in this application, it still deserves consideration due to the functionality that was
implemented in it.

2.1.2. Wheelmap

   This service is an online map of the world that allows you to find and mark places accessible to
people with disabilities, developed by the German non-profit organization Sozialhelden. Based on
OpenStreetMap [2], the map was created in 2010 by social entrepreneur Raoul Krauthausen to help
people with wheelchairs or wheeled walkers plan their days more efficiently. Parents pushing a stroller
can also use Wheelmap information. Currently, the map shows almost six hundred thousand public
places around the world. About three hundred new sites are added every day. Wheelmap is available on
the website and as an application for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The interface of the application
on the phone is shown in Figure 2.
   In this application, anyone can mark such places as bus stations, restaurants, cinemas, museums,
banks, government agencies, etc., according to the accessibility for people with wheelchairs. A simple
system of three traffic light colours, red, orange and green, assesses wheelchair space availability.
Places that have not yet been wheelchair accessible are marked in grey. Anyone can quickly and easily
observe them without prior registration. Unregistered users can add photos or comments with additional
information about wheelchair space availability. Registered users can add images to the location and
write comments with further details about wheelchair space availability. This app focuses on relevant
accessibility information and is not limited to wheelchair spaces such as therapy centres or restrooms.
Instead, wheelchair users should be involved in everyday life, focusing on public places of daily life,
including cafes, clubs, theatres and essential public services, including public transport, government
agencies and banks. Like Wikipedia, the user enters information so that everyone helps develop this
tool from the bottom up. But there are also negative features. The application itself has a somewhat
cumbersome implementation, which affected the performance of the service and significantly lower
processing speed, which is an essential factor for the user. However, many elements of this application
are currently being tested for errors in the system, which is necessary when working with the
application. The user may lose data with which he worked or did not finish working due to an error. It
is also worth noting that the developed application, namely its interface, has a complex implementation,
which puts novice users in a position where they can not take full advantage of its capabilities. But the
most crucial disadvantage of this portal is the poor localization for users from countries that are different
from the government of the application developer and different from the English localization.




Figure 2: View of the Wheelmap interface.

2.1.3. It’s Accessible

    With all its advantages, this application is such as a user-friendly interface that often uses a computer,
as well as the availability of functionality that is quite useful. A key feature is the availability of a
geolocation map, which allows you to view locations with a detailed description from other users, useful
for people with special needs. But some shortcomings significantly affect the user's decision to continue
using this application. For example, It’s Accessible was developed only for the iOS platform, making
it impossible for users with limited financial capabilities and users of other devices with a different
operating system. The vast majority of Ukrainian users use devices with the Android operating system,
not to mention that this application was not designed to be accessed from ordinary personal computers
using a web browser. Another major problem that makes new users reluctant to continue using this
application is that the information provided in it has not been updated for a long time and is not currently
relevant. We can assume that the database update does not occur or was not designed to keep all
available information up to date.

2.1.4. Wheelmate
    This information system is designed and created on a commercial basis. It is a negative factor
because to use all its features, and the average user will have to pay for a certain period. The interface
of this application is shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 3: View of the Wheelmate interface.

   WheelMate provides an instant overview of nearby wheelchair-accessible toilets and parking spaces
on an interactive map. The application is designed and works for wheelchair users who independently
add and check each place, ensuring that it works properly. The application is easy to use, but it does not
implement the Ukrainian interface. WheelMate currently has more than 35,000 seats in forty-five
countries, and new ones are added daily. The application was downloaded by about seventeen thousand
people. Main features and benefits:
       Instant inspection of the nearest toilet and parking spaces suitable for wheelchairs;
       Ability to get directions from the current location to the desired location;
       Ability to help other users by adding toilets and parking spaces in the application;
       Ability to evaluate the response of the place indicated by others;
       No registration is required to work with the application.
   But for the peculiarities of the modern Ukrainian mentality, we can assume that the policy of the
developers of this application at the expense of paid subscription for use is a failure in our country for
the next few years. The traditional reluctance of citizens to use the purchased software in most cases is
replaced by the ability to search for free analogues. There is also no system to prevent the distribution
of software versions, which bypasses the step of paying for the use of software for free, negatively
affecting developers' financial performance in our country, leading to partial or complete refusal to
maintain the software in good condition for Ukrainian users. An additional problem to keep in mind,
which is familiar to most Ukrainian users with disabilities, is that most of them are financially
vulnerable. As a result, purchasing a paid version of the software product is one of the last to be funded
due to the mandatory more essential costs. This software product is implemented as a version for
viewing in a browser and as an application of a mobile device of the Android operating system.

2.1.5. Handiplanet
   This application is designed as a travel guide for people with disabilities to organize, plan and
prepare trips through reviews of the availability of future places to visit. As in the previous appendices,
the information is filled in with the help of tips from people in the same situation.
   On this platform, the user can find information about the availability of places such as bars,
restaurants, hotels, museums and others from the available database. Depending on the user's location,
you can view places in the area and photos and reviews shared by others. In addition, the application
has a unique feature that allows a user on the social network handiplanet to create a community and ask
them questions about a particular trip to help.
   Figure 4 shows the graphical interface of the application on android, a geolocation map with the
specified points, an example of user feedback, and functionality that allows you to assess a specific
place by a new person.




Figure 4: View of the Handiplanet interface.

   But for the Ukrainian user, the application has such shortcomings as the lack of Ukrainian
localization, the lack of ability to translate the comments of other users who have essential accessibility
information. Also negative is that there is no version of viewing the application from the browser.
However, on the plus side, this app is entirely free to use.

2.2.    List and description of technologies used for development

    The development of the graphical user interface of this system was carried out using modern
technologies and software tools based on the existing Internet resources listed in this chapter.
    Git. When developing a software product, developers often have a situation where it is necessary
to restore the state of the program to the state where it was a certain period ago. To solve this problem,
a standard solution was used today, and it is create conditions for future expansion of the product both
in width and users who did not start developing it from the beginning, it was decided to use Git [3].
    Management system: It is in most cases declared that Git is a content tracking tool. Git can be used
to store content – it is mainly used to store code due to other features it provides. Version control system:
The code stored in Git is constantly changing when more code is added. Also, many developers can add
code in parallel. Therefore, the version control system helps to solve this problem by keeping a history
of changes. In addition, Git provides features such as branches and mergers. Distributed version control
system: Git has a remote repository stored on the server and local storage stored on each developer's
computer. It means that the code is not just stored on a central server, but a full copy of the code is
present on all developer computers. Git is a distributed version control system because the code is
current on each developer's computer. I will explain the concept of remote and local storage later in this
article. Real-life projects usually have several developers working in parallel. Therefore, a version
control system such as Git is needed to ensure no code conflicts between developers.
    In addition, the requirements in such projects often change. Thus, the version control system allows
developers to go back and return to the previous version of the code.
    To ensure that the sequence of changes is not overwritten or that changes have occurred are not
deleted, the git version system uses cryptographic-based methods that use cryptographic keys to obtain
cryptographic keys that are unique to specific files. Thus, changing files affects the critical change.
Also, because the methods involve cryptographic encryption, the electronic signature of the developer
with the binding of the created committees and tags can be used as the encryption key.
    The program is designed for free use under the GNU GPL 2 version license.
    The system has several developed access interfaces, such as git-gui and gitk, which are distributed
as the basis of Git. Remote control of Git repositories is supported by the git-daemon, an ongoing SSH
or HTTP server. Git-daemon has a TCP service that is part of the Git software package and is at the
same time SSH is a widely used program for accessing git. The HTTP connection method, despite
several limitations, is often used in monitored networks because it supports several existing filter
settings of this network.
    GitHub is currently a subsidiary of Microsoft. This service is an American web service for hosting
versions of user files on the Internet for remote access and change and management of arrangements
using Git. In most cases, the service is used to store program code. It implements the basics of git and
the capabilities of distributed version control of source code. In addition to the git functionality, GitHub
implements a number of its functions. The service provides access control and several cooperation
functions for several programmers. For example, it is monitoring the owners of created errors,
requesting functions, task management and the ability to design an information page for each project
separately. In addition, GitHub provides separate plans for the team, corporate, accessible, and
professional accounts. In most cases, such statements are used to cover implemented projects by groups
or individuals for all available review and free access. At the beginning of January 2019, GitHub
implemented an essential function of giving all types of users the ability to create an unlimited number
of private repositories, including users who use this service for free.
    HTML – Hypertext Markup Language is a markup language currently considered the main for
creating web applications and web pages. Together with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript,
it forms the three technologies considered the basis for the modern World Wide Web [4]. Web browsers
download HTML documents from servers or hard drives and display them as multimedia pages that
can modify or influence the content, unlike regular ones. Using the semantics of HTML, the
programmer can only describe the page's structure, namely the appearance of the document, only once
and then use this structure to generate excellent content.
    HTML tags are the basic logical units of HTML used to describe pages. Using them, the developer
can add to the page elements such as images, videos, audio files, and other objects with which the user
can interact with the web page as a current program window. Also, the markup language allows and
creates a means by which the structure of documents can be organized to fill with similar content and
create static directories such as Wikipedia. HTML is not a programming language. For example, it
cannot create dynamic functionality. Instead, it allows you to organize and format documents, similar
to Microsoft Word. The browser reads the HTML file and plays its contents so that Internet users can
view it, so it is essential to follow the structure in the file because if you make a mistake, the browser
will not be able to submit the file for viewing to the user.
    Typically, the average website includes several different HTML pages. For example, home pages,
about pages, contact pages would have separate HTML documents.
    CSS is cascading style sheets. These are style sheets that are used to describe where specific blocks
should be in a document and what they should look like. Usually used in conjunction with a markup
language, for example, HTML [5]. Today, CSS is a critical element of the World Wide Web, par with
JavaScript and HTML. It can also be used with any XML document, including regular XML, SVG and
XUL. CSS is used in conjunction with HTML and JavaScript to create user interfaces for web
applications and user interfaces for many mobile applications. Before making CSS, tags such as font,
colour, background style, element alignment, borders, and dimensions had to be repeated on each
webpage, along with descriptions of all their types. It was a very long process. For example: If you
design an extensive website where fonts and colour information are added to each page, it will be a long
and expensive process. CSS was created to solve this problem. It was a W3C recommendation [6]. CSS
style definitions are stored in external CSS files, so you can change the entire website by changing only
one file. CSS provides more detailed attributes than regular HTML to determine the appearance of a
website.
    Javascript is one of the high-level programming languages that meet the ECMAScript specification.
Similar to CSS and HTML, JavaScript is one of the three leading web development technologies today.
JavaScript provides the ability to create web pages in which the user can modify the content and is an
integral part of web applications. Most websites use Javascript, and the most popular browsers have a
unique JavaScript mechanism for its execution.
    In most cases, JavaScript is either embedded in a web page or included in a .js file. JavaScript is also
a language mainly performed on the client-side rather than the server-side, although these figures have
been close to equalization over the last five years. The script in the JS language is downloaded to the
computers of site visitors and then processed. Adding JavaScript code to a web page is a relatively
simple process and standard if you perform HTML and CSS encoding. You can add JavaScript directly
to the page code using the