Founder & Project Lead

Orinav: navigation app for people with visual impairments

Today, 700+ people with visual impairments across 5 countries are enjoying a better way to explore the world: Orinav.

Several people with visual impairments walking with Orinav open; volunteers nearby are recording their feedback.

Explore freely, move boldly.

Independent outdoor travel requires more than just knowing the route.

For people with visual impairments, it also requires awareness of obstacles, crossings, and hazards—information not readily available without sight.

However, existing navigation apps provide limited to no support for this task. Orinav is a better mobile navigation app that addresses this problem.

Developed in collaboration with the Institute of Accessibility Development at Tsinghua University, Orinav integrates obstacle detection, crossing assistance, traffic light recognition, turn-by-turn guidance, and sidewalk-orientation in one app.

Orinav's home screen, prominently displaying a search button.

Orinav's Navigate screen, simplified to remove the clutter of a traditional interactive map.

Orinav's Explore screen, helping users navigate nearby obstacles and traffic lights with ease.

12%: On common suburban routes, Orinav has been experimentally proven to reduce navigation time by up to 12%.
44%: It reduces the number of hesitations by up to 44% compared to traditional navigation apps.
43%: Orinav can also decrease the number of hazardous approaches by up to 43% compared to traditional navigation apps.
85/100: Orinav earns an 85/100 System Usability Scale score, indicating a high level of usability and user satisfaction.

We have collaborated with Hequn Public Welfare, a registered Chinese disability charity with 5,000+ volunteers, to bring Orinav to people with visual impairments in Beijing.

Volunteers from Team Orinav interviewing people with visual impairments and experiencing the navigation process with them.

An early prototype of Orinav being tested by a blind user, with Lin nearby.

A group walks along a tree-lined path, led by a man wearing sunglasses and using a white cane, with several companions walking beside and behind him.

A man using a white cane stands with a group beside a city street as several companions raise their hands and gesture toward something ahead.

700: Today, 700+ active users across 5 countries are using Orinav to improve their travels session by session.
5: Users of Orinav hail from China, the Netherlands, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
11.2: Each user launched 11.2 navigation tasks on average during the first month of Orinav's launch.

Orinav has been presented to more than 1,200 experts across various fields, including at Inclusive Innovations, an event hosted by assistive technology company Envision.

Lin speaks at Inclusive Innovations, a conference on assistive technology hosted by Envision Technologies in the Netherlands.

5/100: Orinav has been selected for 5/100 projects to be presented at Inclusive Innovations—and is the only high school project to be selected.
3/200+: Orinav has been designated as one among 3 "Highly Commended" projects at the Tech4Good Awards out of 36 finalists from 200+ entrants.
News: Orinav has been featured on reports from The Beijing News, Beijing Media Network's News Express, and AbilityNet.

Orinav is a product from A11yLab: The Beijing Academy Student Accessibility Initiative. Learn more on our website.

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