The aims of the present study were to determine the regional distribution of disability welfare offices that provide persons with disabilities with the basic support necessary to continue living at home in their communities, and to develop an indicator of the level of service provision. Using a geographic information system (GIS), the area within 4 km of disability welfare offices (deemed to be equivalent to a one-hour walking distance) was regarded as the “service provision area,” then, after calculating the resident population inside the service provision area for each type of disability welfare service nationwide, the population coverage was calculated on a prefectural basis. The results of this study revealed the following: (1) Population coverage tended to be high for visit-based services, but low for training-based services. (2) In terms of prefecture, disparities between prefectures were quite evident. (3) While the coverage was ≥80% for long-term care services of inhome care, visiting care for persons with severe disabilities, accompanying support, and daily life care, coverage for the training-based services of support for continuous employment (Type B) and group homes with aid was ≥85%.

For all individuals with dementia, going outside their houses unaccompanied presents many issues regarding their safety, independence, and quality of life (QOL) in every situation, society, and family. This study aims to elucidate the behavioral characteristics of individuals with mild Alzheimer's disease during walking around, and to propose the development of navigation methodologies that use devices to provide assistive information to these individuals. To identify behavioral characteristics of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, an examination was conducted among individuals with Alzheimer's disease, young, and old individuals to assess their ability to select routes from their initial to their final destinations, using an existing navigation device. The results suggested that the success rate of route selection is associated with an ability related to visual memory storage. Additionally, an effective requirement of route guidance, i.e., indication of directions from the present position to follow a specified route continuously, was expressed.