full text below; short article. Digital navigation helps blind people to navigate cities
Richard Newton Beacons send signals to passing users’ smartphones, helping them find their way around transport Wayfindr Press Shots ©Sophie Mutevelian A woman uses Wayfindr to find her way on the London Underground Anyone walking the sometimes mazelike passages in London Underground stations will appreciate the challenge faced by the blind or partially sighted. However, a step towards easing the navigation of large built environments such as public transport and shopping malls will be taken this week. After trials with Transport for London and Sydney Metro, a not-for-profit organisation called Wayfindr is making public a set of rules, known as an open standard, for the consistent use of smartphone-based navigation for the vision-impaired. In underground stations, Bluetooth beacons placed around the walkways, escalators and platforms send a reference point to a user’s smartphone about, say, a set of steps or entrances. This translates into an audio message. Using a global open standard, metro managers would know that best practice is to place a beacon 2m before an escalator and an app developer knows that the appropriate language to use when a user passes it is: “You are approaching the escalator”. Wayfindr is a joint venture between the Royal London Society for Blind People and ustwo, a Shoreditch design studio. In December, Google’s charitable arm, Google.org, gave $1m to fund trials by Wayfindr. Enabling developers of the physical world, such as those who build shopping malls, and developers of the digital world to adhere to a common protocol for technology, language and physical siting of beacons benefits everyone, says Umesh Pandya, chief executive and co-founder of Wayfindr. He says it will cut costs and uncertainty for developers, and enable a uniform experience for users. On 8/14/16, avinash shahi <[email protected]> wrote: > If anyone has subscribed the Financial Times, kindly attach/paste this > article. I need this for research purpose. > http://www.ft.com/cms/s/10adf894-160c-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e,Authorised=false.html?siteedition=intl&_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F10adf894-160c-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e.html%3Fsiteedition%3Dintl&_i_referer=&classification=conditional_standard&iab=barrier-app > > -- > Avinash Shahi > Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > [email protected] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > -- Regards Habeeb Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
