NavMem - Navigation Support for Older Travellers with Memory Decline

Important results from the project

Age-related memory impairment, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and cognitive impairments due to stroke, brain injury or early dementia, have negative effects on the ability to navigate and orient. Repeated disorientation can cause fear of going out alone, which can lead to isolation. The project has developed a system that provides support for orientation and navigation, thus reducing the risk of disorientation (and isolation).

Expected long term effects

NavMem has developed a high-level prototype of a system that provides support for orientation and navigation, and two smaller specialized apps that all can reduce the fear of getting lost. To avoid stigmatizing users with cognitive disabilities the systems have been designed generally for older pedestrians. It also provides specially designed wayfinding information to help people with age-related memory problems and cognitive impairments p.g.a diseases such as stroke, brain injury or early dementia to avoid disorientation.

Approach and implementation

The iterative set-up of the project and the cooperation between active partners has been good, and compared to the plan, an additional iteration was carried out. Two partner changes have complicated cooperation and the cumbersome change of partners in the UK took a very long time and affected the quality of the end-product of the larger system (Navmem Explorer). Long-term tests of the system that were originally planned to last several months was cut short when both iterations were found to produce satisfactory results for the acquisition of knowledge after a test period of 2-6 weeks.