Section3 Deployment Progress and Development of ITS

Deployment of ITS in Regional Communities

Field test on ITS for pedestrians

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport conducted, in collaboration with the Osaka City Government, a test on a pedestrian assistance system using the PDA (personal digital assistance) system at the underground shopping area in Umeda in Osaka City where seven train stations meet. In the test, a PDA device was provided to monitors and they traveled by following the guidance from the device (e.g. map and characters displayed and voice guidance) between the origin and the destination selected by them.
The system tested is designed to assist the disabled as well. It navigates barrier-free routes for the physically disabled such as wheelchair users, and helps the visually-impaired to find their way by voice guidance.
Since GPS does not work underground, electric tags which send electric waves to PDA devices were provided at key locations such as corridor crossings, staircases, and railway ticket gates to allow the monitors to identify their locations.
According to a questionnaire survey, about 70% of all the monitors (77% of the physically disabled) answered that a system of this kind must be introduced, and about 66% of the monitors (70% of the physically disabled) answered that the system tested was useful.
[Osaka National Highway Work Office of the Kinki Regional Development Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]



Portable information terminal with voice guidance


Easy-to-use for wheelchair users



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