PROVIDING A LOCATION AND ITEM IDENTIFICATION DATA TO VISUALLY IMPAIRED SHOPPERS IN A SITE HAVING BARCODE LABELS

A portable unit assists a visually impaired user within a store by providing an output, using speech synthesis, of his location based on reading various barcode labels. The location of each barcode label is determined from data stored within the portable unit. The portable unit also determines a path between the user's location and an item he selects to find, describing the path using speech synthesis. The user can select, by speech or by depressing a button, items for a target list. Preferably, some barcode labels identify an end of an aisle, which cause the portable unit to describe, using speech synthesis, items on the aisle and items in the target list on the aisle.