As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my biggest struggles is getting to new places. Just having an address doesn't help a blind person safely navigate to where they want to go on their own. One of the ways that technology is addressing this issue is through GPS. GPS allows a person to at least know what street they're on, which makes pedestrian travel in unfamiliar areas a little better. Currently, the blind can use this technology on devices such as Treker by Humanware, or with software like Mobile Geo on their accessible cell phones.
GPS is really helpful, but RFID tags are even better. In New Castle in the U.K. Talking signs are being put on lamp posts. When the blind person points their electronic fob device at the tag, it tells them where they are and what's around them. The great thing is that it tells the whole street this information because it comes out of a speaker. I hope that this technology spreads and someday I will be able to use it in my own town. To read more about this amazing technology visit this link.
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Identification by Color, Not for Me
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by Donna J. Jodhan
When I had sufficient vision, I used to depend heavily on colors to help me
identify things. I could remember that when I was growing u...
4 days ago
I think this is great technology, but it seems like they got the technology backwards--it would be a lot cheaper if they put the RFID tags in the lamps, and the speaker should be handheld, or maybe a smart phone add-on.
ReplyDeleteThe Real Steve makes sense. Though it would be better if they build the 'guides' into the GPS devices. It could be a grass roots effort, like a Wikipedie-esque WikiAudioEyesGuide. The GPS device could download audio clips for he local area (created by regular people) that would be triggered when the GPS device nears particular GPS coordinates. This way there is not extensive expense changing lampposts. Also, information can be updated regularly. The new driving GPS devices allow users to import audio guides that are triggered in the same way.
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