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Specific aspects of mobility and spatial orientation of the visually handicapped have attracted the attention of researchers for a quarter of a century; generally speaking, their work can be placed in four fields of study. First, interest has been focused on the capacity of blind people to move unaided in various spatial settings and to mentally map an environment. A second preoccupation revealed by the literature has been the spatial information transmitted to the visually handicapped by tactile maps, by adapted sign system and by electronic guidance systems. Other projects have focused on the environment in which visually handicapped move and on the environmental aspects that affect their mobility. Finally, some researchers have investigated how the development of technical aids has facilitated the mobility of blind people.

The paper reports on a wayfinding study aimed at identifying the information needs of the congenitally totally blind population. A route-finding experiment in a complex architectural setting was undertaken with a group of 15 congenitally totally blind and a matched control group of 15 sighted subjects. The experiment showed that, compared to the sighted control group, the blind persons planned the journey in more detail, requiring for this purpose additional environmental information. During the journey, they formulated significantly more decisions and used significantly more units of information than the sighted control. Furthermore, the nature of the information used and its source were also different for the two groups. A cognitive mapping exercise, on the other hand, showed the blind to perform virtually as well as the sighted person.