Hi,
I respectively disagree. I think we blinks need to look at all solutions, mainstream and AT, to select the one that works best for us. Mainstream is nearly always less expensive (economies of scale and such) but, sometimes, At provides a more robust solution that will work, when compared to a off-the-shelf product, especially well in situations that a blind person may need that rarely apply to a customer who does not self identify as having a disability. Thus, one major factor in choosing a solution is (using the Navigon example) whether the $70 solution provides the consumer with the features and usability they need or want. I've been pounding on Navigon the last couple of days, putting it into situations that it may not have been designed to handle. These are situations that Mobile Geo performs well in. My goal is to find the boundary conditions and limitations of Navigon so I can write up results for a blog entry. One thing that Navigon gets a whole lot better than virtually all other solutions I've tried is its accuracy at slow (pedestrian) speeds. While this may be a function of the superior iPhone Location Services, Navigon does an awesome job of announcing with about 1 or 2 meters of the actual location and it does it with the built in GPS and not a specialized external one from a third party. My biggest complaint with Navigon is that it does a really poor job when one goes "off road." There is a church in Harvard Square where I get together with some friends daily. To get there, I must use a pedestrian bridge lest I choose to commit vehicular suicide. While on this bridge yesterday, Navigon announced what seemed like random instructions including, "take a sharp right and then a left," "make a U-Turn and bear left and other instructions that were senseless in that situation. Once I got back onto a more traditional sidewalk that runs alongside a street, Navigon returned to its relatively good performance and excellent accuracy. If you go to the blog (www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com) you can search on GPS for other articles I've written about it. I'm a fairly harsh critic of nearly all products that we blinks need or want to use as I always want to be on the side of raising the floor rather than feeling satisfied with the crumbs from the table. With Navigon, it is a whole lot better than most that I've tried but needs a lot more work to provide an excellent pedestrian solution like that in Mobile GEO and other "blind guy ghetto" products. Happy Hacking, cdh . On Aug 12, 2009, at 5:12 AM, Krister Ekstrom wrote: > > Ok, Il moderatore, i know this is off-topic somewhat but i as they say > in online business promoting mails, have to get it out of my chest > before i explode! I think it's a bit unfair to compare standard gps > solutions with those made strictly for blind folks and if Navigon as a > standard gps solution makes a very good job of helping us around the > place, it's great! What really would've been great would be if someone > could do a podcast of a navigon session so that one may here it in > action, rather like people have done with Wayfinder access and Mobile > geo. > /Krister > > 11 aug 2009 kl. 14.10 skrev Chris G: > >> >> Hi, >> FYI Humanware Trekker is not using the Sendero SDK. >> >> Chris >> >> >> >> On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:01:26 +0100 >> william lomas <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> what will the update in december contain for navigon? >>> >>> On 10 Aug 2009, at 18:50, Chris Hofstader wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> EI don't do podcasts. I will write some blog entries on this stuff >>>> soon (www.blindconfidential.blogspot.com). >>>> >>>> Of those available to blinks, Wayfinder is the one I know the least >>>> about as I only used it for a month or so about a year ago. Almost >>>> all of the players in the AT biz are using the same Sendero engine. >>>> So, Humanware, Nuance, Freedom Scientific, Code Factory are all >>>> about >>>> the same underneath but have different UI that one can pick from. >>>> >>>> Just based on my minimal experience with Navigon, though, I would >>>> suggest you stick with Wayfinder/Access until they put out an >>>> update >>>> expected in December. Navigon is fine if you don't already have >>>> something but I wouldn't scrap your current solution quite yet. >>>> >>>> These opinions are mine and mine alone and are the result of >>>> messing >>>> around with Navigon for less than two days and I've been using >>>> Mobile >>>> Geo very frequently since it came out and it is my favorite but >>>> that >>>> is likely because it is the one with which I'm most familiar. >>>> >>>> cdh >>>> On Aug 10, 2009, at 9:40 AM, william lomas wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> can you do a podcast on navigon so ican hear it? at present i >>>>> am a >>>>> wayfinder user and want to "hear" how it compares >>>>> >>>>> On 10 Aug 2009, at 14:09, Chris Hofstader wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Hi, >>>>>> >>>>>> While I have had and enjoyed my iPhone for about a month and a >>>>>> half, I >>>>>> hadn't, before yesterday, needed to switch between running tasks. >>>>>> Specifically, I was following directions to our local YWCA using >>>>>> Navigon yesterday. I received a phone call and, after hanging >>>>>> up, I >>>>>> couldn't figure out how to get back to Navigon to look at some >>>>>> things. Navigon continued giving me directions but I could not >>>>>> get >>>>>> back to its interface where VoiceOver reads the street names and >>>>>> such. >>>>>> >>>>>> I looked in the iPhone manual and searched on "task switching" >>>>>> and >>>>>> "background task" using VO's search facility as well as the one >>>>>> in >>>>>> Preview and didn't find anything. I can't believe that this >>>>>> would >>>>>> be >>>>>> too difficult but I can't find it in the manual given the search >>>>>> criteria I can think up. >>>>>> >>>>>> Any help will be appreciated. I'm going back into the manual to >>>>>> see >>>>>> what I might be able to find. >>>>>> >>>>>> Happy Hacking, >>>>>> cdh >>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> -- >> Chris G <[email protected]> >> >> >>> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
