Accessible smart cities?: Inspecting the accessibility of Brazilian municipalities' mobile applications

Abstract

The use of interactive technologies to aid in the implementation of smart cities has a significant potential to support disabled users in performing their activities as citizens. In this study, we present an investigation of the accessibility of a sample of 10 mobile Android™ applications of Brazilian municipalities, two from each of the five big geographical regions of the country, focusing especially on users with visual disabilities. The results showed that many of the applications were not in accordance with accessibility guidelines, with an average of 57 instances of violations and an average of 11.6 different criteria violated per application. The main problems included issues like not addressing labelling of non-textual content, headings, identifying user location, colour contrast, enabling users to interact using screen reader gestures, focus visibility and lack of adaptation of text contained in image. Although the growth in mobile applications for has boosted the possibilities aligned with the principles of smart cities, there is a strong need for including accessibility in the design of such applications in order for disabled people to benefit from the potential they can have for their lives.