Using acoustic landscapes for the evaluation of multimodal mobile applications

Multimodal mobile applications are gaining momentum ill the field of location based services for special purposes. One of them is navigation systems and tourist guides for pedestrians. In some cases, when the visibility is limited or blind people are longing for guidance, acoustic landmarks are used for macro-navigation rather than Visual landmarks. Likewise, micro-navigation supported by pedestrian navigation systems Must comply to the user's expectations. In this paper, we present all acoustic landscape that allows the emulation of arbitrary out-door situations dedicated for the evaluation of navigation systems. We present the evaluation capabilities and limitations of the laboratory as well as all example of an evaluation of it pedestrian navigation system thin uses acoustic and haptic feedback.