  Navigation assistance systems (NASs) aim to help visually impaired people
(VIPs) navigate unfamiliar environments. Most of today's NASs support VIPs via
turn-by-turn navigation, but a growing body of work highlights the importance
of exploration as well. It is unclear, however, how NASs should be designed to
help VIPs explore unfamiliar environments. In this paper, we perform a
qualitative study to understand VIPs' information needs and challenges with
respect to exploring unfamiliar environments, with the aim of informing the
design of NASs that support exploration. Our findings reveal the types of
spatial information that VIPs need as well as factors that affect VIPs'
information preferences. We also discover specific challenges that VIPs face
that future NASs can address such as orientation and mobility education and
collaborating effectively with others. We present design implications for NASs
that support exploration, and we identify specific research opportunities and
discuss open socio-technical challenges for making such NASs possible. We
conclude by reflecting on our study procedure to inform future approaches in
research on ethical considerations that may be adopted while interacting with
the broader VIP community.
