NaviLens

Blind and low-vision travelers raise their phones to scan NaviLens codes when transit systems, stores, and public buildings still deliver critical wayfinding and labeling through visual signage.

ENABLE Model location

• Builder-side Interventions → Create Accessible Content
• Builder-side Interventions → Design Accessible Experiences
• Builder-side Interventions → Create Stopgaps
• Navigator-side Compensations → Use Assistive Technologies

What it is

NaviLens combines printed markers with a smartphone app that blind and low-vision users deploy to detect coded signs from a distance and hear location-specific information. The system grew out of work that Javier Pita began with University of Alicante researchers in 2012. It was finished in 2017 after five years of development around a simple problem: standard QR codes have to be found up close and framed precisely, which makes them poor tools for blind wayfinding.¹ Bloomberg reported in 2019 that the system had already rolled out in Barcelona, Madrid, and Murcia, and the European Investment Bank later described Barcelona's transit network as the first major customer.²¹

The technical proposition is straightforward. A phone camera reads a brightly colored code without needing precise focus, then the app speaks information about distance, direction, and the sign's contents. The European Investment Bank reported that a 20 cm² code could be read from as far away as 12 metres and from different angles.¹ In New York, the MTA says riders can hold the phone against their chest while walking, let the app detect codes automatically, and shake the device to hear the last instruction again.³

Transit agencies, bus operators, airports, museums, schools, and consumer brands use NaviLens when they want to layer machine-readable access onto environments that still organize information visually. In 2025, MTA described the system as available across parts of Manhattan and the Bronx and rolling out on subway cars and bus corridors through a federal SMART grant.³ In Melbourne, the Victorian government rolled out codes across tram stops and vehicles after a trial on route 96.⁴ In San Antonio, VIA began installing nearly 6,000 signs after a pilot near Vibrant Works, formerly Lighthouse for the Blind.⁵ In the United Kingdom, Kellogg adopted the same system on cereal boxes so blind shoppers could locate products and hear ingredient and allergen information.⁶ Heathrow trialed NaviLens with RNIB as part of a larger accessibility investment, and the State Historical Museum of Iowa later spread more than 500 codes across its first floor after two years of planning.⁷⁸ Organizations deploy it as builder-side content, design, and often stopgaps. Travelers use it as navigator-side assistive-technologies.³⁴⁵⁶

Why it matters

Stations, stops, museums, and store aisles long treated vision as the default channel and pushed blind and low-vision travelers toward memorization, tactile cues, and human-help.⁹¹ Tactile walking surface indicators were first developed in Japan in the 1960s, and the National Academies now describe consistency in wayfinding cues as crucial because blind travelers cannot rely on many of the visual signals available to others.⁹ Marc Powell told the European Investment Bank that he needed 10 or 15 visits to a train station in the United Kingdom before he memorised the paths.¹ NaviLens enters that older history of stations, stops, museums, and store aisles that still treat vision as the default channel and then add a separate access layer later. Its own origin follows that pattern: developers started from the fact that ordinary QR codes and ordinary transit signage still assumed a sighted user who could find the code, frame it, and read it.¹²

Wayfinding for people with impaired vision already depends on a mix of hearing, memory, existing knowledge, other sensory cues, human-help, and navigational aids. A 2025 interview study found that hearing was the most important orientation cue for visually impaired participants and that crowdedness, weather, and familiarity shaped which cues they used. The same study found that these strategies were tied to energy management.¹⁰ A 2026 survey of adults with visual impairment found that public transport use depended on accessibility, 32% of respondents travelled independently on all route types, and 18% left home only with someone else's assistance.¹¹ NaviLens therefore occupies two ENABLE locations at once. It acts as builder-side content, design, and often stopgaps when agencies add codes to signs and vehicles. It acts as navigator-side assistive-technologies when riders still need to launch an app, aim a phone, and interpret audio instructions in motion.

Agencies and brands adopt NaviLens partly because it lets them retrofit access onto existing estates instead of rebuilding every sign system from scratch.¹²³ At Union Station, LA Metro said tactile pathways were difficult to install because of the station's historic-landmark status, so it tested NaviLens as an alternative wayfinding layer.¹² In New York, MTA later secured a $2 million US DOT SMART Grant to expand NaviLens across stations, subway cars, and the Bx12 corridor.³ In San Antonio, VIA installed nearly 6,000 signs after a pilot and public testing events.⁵ Kellogg changed packaging after an RNIB-backed pilot found that 97% of participants wanted more accessibility features on grocery packaging.⁶ In Iowa, museum staff said the deployment required ongoing funding and that they were fundraising to expand it.⁸ That cost structure matters. Institutions pay for codes, software contracts, grants, and rollout projects, while riders still pay with a compatible phone, battery, camera access, digital skill, and enough spare attention to keep scanning under precarity. Operating a smartphone also "heavily relies on good visual function" and is "not particularly accessible to a person with a visual disability," as a 2021 review in Eye noted.¹³ NaviLens lowers part of the adaptation tax by moving some information access upstream into the environment. It leaves the device burden and the scanning burden with the traveler.

Constant vigilance drains energy, raises anxiety, and narrows participation for blind and low-vision travelers moving through visual-first environments.⁴¹⁴¹⁵ Ben Harrington told the Guardian that before Melbourne's rollout he identified his tram by sound and that "when you don't have much vision you have to be alert and remain that way throughout your journey."⁴ A meta-analysis found more severe fatigue symptoms among visually impaired patients than among normally sighted controls.¹⁴ A qualitative study found that visually impaired adults linked fatigue to high cognitive load, effortful visual perception, and difficult light conditions, with the greatest effects on social roles, participation, emotional functioning, and cognitive functioning.¹⁵ NaviLens can reduce some guessing, scanning, and repeated human-help, but travelers still endure inaccessibility whenever the system keeps essential information behind a phone screen or a sparse rollout.

NaviLens marks a real frontier in accessible wayfinding. Transit agencies, airports, museums, and consumer brands can now place machine-readable direction and content into spaces that long stayed visually organized.³⁴⁶⁷⁸ The frontier remains partial. In Melbourne, the same article that praised NaviLens also reported that only 28% of tram stops were accessible for wheelchair users in 2023.⁴ In Iowa, staff said the museum service required ongoing funding and further fundraising to expand.⁸ Coded signs make visual information more reachable. They do not excuse agencies, retailers, or cultural institutions from building systems that communicate accessibly without a separate device and, in some deployments, ongoing funding.

Real-world examples

In the news

How to Make Transit More Accessible to the Visually Impaired (July 2019)
-- Aisha Majid, Bloomberg CityLab

• Bloomberg reported that NaviLens rolled out in Barcelona beginning in 2018 and then spread through Madrid and Murcia. The article framed the codes as a response to tasks that remained "tricky or even impossible" without help, such as locating ticket machines or identifying a bus at a stop. That makes NaviLens legible as both a builder-side content retrofit and a navigator-side assistive-technologies dependence.²

In the news

Route to independence: Ben identifies his Melbourne tram by sound – but a new app means he won’t have to (May 2024)
-- Elias Visontay, The Guardian

• Melbourne expanded NaviLens after a trial on route 96, announcing installation at more than 1,700 tram stops and on more than 500 trams across 23 routes. The article documented the labor blind riders carried before the rollout: Ben Harrington had learned to identify his tram by sound and described remaining alert throughout the trip. NaviLens reduced some of that labor while leaving wider accessibility gaps intact.⁴

In the news

VIA installs new technology system to help blind, low-vision riders (February 2024)
-- David Ibañez, KSAT

• VIA Metropolitan Transit began installing nearly 6,000 NaviLens signs after a pilot at 100 high-ridership stops near Vibrant Works and after public testing events. The system could speak bus-arrival information in 34 languages once a rider's phone detected a sign within about 50 feet. The San Antonio rollout shows agencies using coded overlays to retrofit bus-stop information without waiting for all wayfinding to be rebuilt.⁵

In the news

New cereal technology provides label and allergen information to blind shoppers (July 2021)
-- Selina Powell, Optometry Today

• Kellogg rolled out NaviLens on cereal boxes after a pilot with Co-op, and RNIB reported that 97% of participants wanted more accessibility features on grocery packaging. The packaging case shows NaviLens moving beyond transit into consumer goods, where brands still print vital information in formats blind shoppers cannot independently locate or read.⁶

• LA Metro tested NaviLens across Union Station in 2020 after saying tactile pathways were difficult to install in the historic station. The pilot marked platforms, ticket machines, fare gates, elevators, and emergency telephones.¹²
• MTA's 2020 bus pilot placed NaviLens decals on M23 SBS stops near Selis Manor Residence for the Blind, VISIONS, and the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library.¹⁶
• In September 2025, MTA said NaviLens was available in parts of Manhattan and the Bronx and rolling out on subway cars and Bx12 bus corridors through its SMART Grant expansion.³
• The European Investment Bank reported in 2020 that Barcelona's TMB had become NaviLens's first big customer and that the city had installed signs across 159 subway stations and 2,400 bus stops.¹
• Heathrow said in 2020 that it would begin NaviLens trials with RNIB during a wider £30 million accessibility investment program at the airport.⁷
• KCCI reported in May 2025 that the State Historical Museum of Iowa had spread more than 500 NaviLens codes across its first floor after two years of planning, using the system to make exhibits and navigation more accessible to blind and low-vision visitors.⁸

What care sounds like (builder-side interventions)

Care at the content, design, and stopgaps stages means putting nonvisual access into the environment instead of leaving blind travelers to guess:

• "Accessibility for bus riders begins at the bus stop."¹⁶
• "We’re backing this technology. Implementing it is so easy, and it’s robust and effective."¹
• "We know it’s important that all packaging is accessible for the blind community to enable them to make shopping easier."⁶
• "There I was in a station in a foreign country, and I was finding my way easily and doing it on the first time."¹

What neglect sounds like (builder-side interventions)

Neglect shows up when agencies and brands keep information visual by default and treat a separate app as the whole accessibility plan:

• "The sign is already there. If someone can't read it, they can download the app."
• "We added the code, so the rest of the station can stay the same."
• "Most passengers can glance up and find the platform. The others can ask for help."

What compensation sounds like (navigator-side compensations)

Compensation describes the work blind and low-vision users still carry when the environment speaks visually first and nonvisually second, even after a code layer has been added:

• "Most people have the option to switch off on public transport, but when you don't have much vision you have to be alert and remain that way throughout your journey."⁴
• "I keep the phone ready, listen for the tag, and keep a mental map in case the code is missing." -- combining assistive technology with memorized workarounds
• "If the rollout stops at one platform or one aisle, I still have to ask staff or another passenger to fill in the rest." -- falling back on human help
• "I would feel more comfortable traveling by myself if this was available everywhere."¹²

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All observations occur within transit, airport, campus, retail, and public-wayfinding systems in Spain, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, where agencies, facilities teams, signage vendors, app makers, blind riders, and low-vision travelers negotiate who can find information without extra equipment, setup, or guessing.

Footnotes

1. European Investment Bank: NaviLens uses patterns of squares and smart phones to create blind digital sign language ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Bloomberg CityLab: How to Make Transit More Accessible to the Visually Impaired ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. MTA: Accessible wayfinding through NaviLens ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. The Guardian: Route to independence: Ben identifies his Melbourne tram by sound – but a new app means he won’t have to ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

5. KSAT: VIA installs new technology system to help blind, low-vision riders ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Optometry Today: New cereal technology provides label and allergen information to blind shoppers ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. Business Traveller: Heathrow to invest £30 million in accessibility ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. KCCI: New colorful signs at Iowa museum improve accessibility for visually impaired people ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

9. The National Academies Press: Tactile Wayfinding in Transportation Settings for Travelers Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired: Volume 2: Guide ↩ ↩²

10. PubMed: Wayfinding with Impaired Vision: Preferences for Cues, Strategies, and Aids (Part I-Perspectives from Visually Impaired Individuals) ↩

11. ScienceDirect: Mobility in adults with visual impairment: Results from an online survey ↩

12. The Source: Testing wayfinding technology at Union Station ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

13. Nature Eye: Smartphones as assistive technology for visual impairment ↩

14. PubMed: The association between visual impairment and fatigue: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies ↩ ↩²

15. PubMed: Exploring the patient perspective of fatigue in adults with visual impairment: a qualitative study ↩ ↩²

16. MTA Press Release: MTA Pilots Smartphone App to Help Blind and Low-Vision Bus Riders ↩ ↩²