announces BlindSquare version 3, in celebration of its 3rd anniversary supporting navigation for travelers who are blind. With this release BlindSquare supports the continuation of navigation indoors for venues equipped with Beacon Positioning Systems (BPS) <http://blindsquare.com/indoor> . When GPS fails, BPS continues ensuring the traveler remains aware, is well informed, and travels with confidence and options. BlindSquare is the only Augmented Reality application specifically designed for people who are blind or have low vision.
In collaboration with Dr. Merja Saarela, Principal Lecturer and Research Group Leader in Multisensory and Assistive Technology at HAMK University of Applied Sciences, MIPsoft has developed BPS, which can be installed in public buildings as well as public transportation, to help people who are blind or have low vision to use these facilities more easily and confidently. The BPS consists of iBeacons, low energy Bluetooth devices sending out signals that can be received by smartphones. When a BlindSquare user enters the range of a specific beacon, a message associated with that beacon will be played on their iOS device. “We a proud to finally present BlindSquare BPS to the public,” says Ilkka Pirttimaa, head and founder of MIPsoft, and lead developer of BlindSquare. “Our system is unique, because we use only 10% the amount of beacons required by other indoor navigation systems we see being developed. To cover an area of 20,000 square meters (215,280 square feet), we only need 18 iBeacons. At the same time, BlindSquare BPS delivers accurate and context aware information to the user. We are also pleased to partner with Kontakt.io, a provider of high quality iBeacons who shares our vision of making public spaces accessible to everyone.” BPS has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Merja Saarela and several blind and low vision individuals. Tested and piloted in Helsinki at the ITIS Shopping Centre, the largest enclosed mall in Scandinavia, BPS is now available to any organization or business wanting to make their premises more accessible to blind and low vision people. Jarmo Loponen, one of our first users who helped to develop the system, said: “I have low vision and often look for a sign to help me know where I am, only to discover that I am not able to read it once I have finally found one. With BPS, I can now just hear the messages and don’t have to concentrate that hard anymore.” “I am pleased we were able to give MIPsoft the opportunity to test BPS in our mall,” says Kirsi Feirikki, manager of the ITIS Shopping Centre. “ITIS contains businesses, restaurants, and medical services. I am glad to know that due to BPS, it will be easier for our blind and low vision customers to access them.” A BlindSquare BPS is now being installed at Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) national headquarters in Toronto and, in June, in Wellington New Zealand for Blind Foundation. Both centers will be featured as national centres of excellence for leading technologies. BlindSquare was awarded CNIB’s Winston Gordon Award of Excellence in March, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Access Award in April. BlindSquare BPS can be employed in many kinds of buildings. In museums, for example, it can be used to make the exhibits accessible to visually impaired patrons, describing the pieces and providing the background information usually available in writing only. Ilkka Pirttimaa, inventor of both BlindSquare and BPS, says: “I would like to thank our visually impaired test users, the management of the ITIS Shopping Centre, who allowed us to install a prototype of BPS on their premises, and Dr. Merja Saarela, who helped us to conduct the research our system is based on. “BPS has proved very effective in helping our visually impaired test users to navigate ITIS more quickly and easily. I hope that it will be installed in both commercial and cultural venues, to give people living with low vision or sight loss equal access to public spaces anywhere.” MIPsoft, founded in 1989, is a software company specializing in the development of smartphone applications. Based in Helsinki, Finland, it works with an international team of freelancers from the US, Germany, UK, Estonia, and Sweden, most of whom are blind or partially sighted. CEO Ilkka Pirttimaa is the lead iOS developer. Close monitoring of social media channels and of relevant Email discussion lists as well as rapid development cycles allow constant product advancement. Marketing is mainly carried out through social media. Additionally, MIPsoft has earned a reputation for outstanding customer support. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ilkka Pirttimaa Sent: Thursday, June 11, 2015 1:22 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: BlindSquare V3.00 is out. Hello! Press release: http://blindsquare.com/press/ More info of Indoor system: http://blindsquare.com/indoor/ Best, Ilkka (developer of BlindSquare) On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 12:27 AM, Eugenia Firth <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Sadam. Do you have the URL that was shown on the update notes in BlindSquare? I was going to go and look at it, but I lost the screen on my iPhone and I can’t figure out how to get it back so I check out iBeacons, or whatever it is called. I wanted to see what places are on it. Gigi for one thing. By the way, for those of you going to the ACB convention in Dallas, do you know there is an app you can download from the App Store for navigation within the convention hotel? They say it was done for the San Francisco airport, and I downloaded it for free. I can’t try it out util I go to the convention in July. On Jun 5, 2015, at 10:24 PM, [email protected] wrote: Hi all, Blind Square a great application for navigation on the iOS platform has received a significant update. The highlight in this release include supporting iBecons Apples implementation of indoor mapping. Here's the change log: NEW: BlindSquare now supports BlindSquare BPS (Beacon Positioning System), an indoor navigation system based on iBeacons. It is currently available at a few places only, but will hopefully become available at more venues soon. NEW: 3d sounds. If you use a stereo headset with BlindSquare, you will now hear the alert sound played from the direction of the POI that is being announced. NEW: BlindSquare now supports the TransitTimes+ public transport app NEW: If you use BlindSquare on an iPhone 6 or 6plus, you can check changes in elevation. Based on your device’s barometer, the GPS-Info screen shows your elevation compared to when you started BlindSquare. There is also a button letting you reset your elevation to the current reading. CHANGE: Optimized to use less memory CHANGE: Updated Open Street Map data, more intersection information available in some areas now. FIX: Resolved a timing issue in the Audio Menu that made it harder to select the intended item. note: You can control BlindSquare‘s Audio Menu from your Apple watch. Start BlindSquare on your phone, swipe up with two fingers to bring up your glances, and double-tap the Pause button. Double-Tap again to activate an Audio Menu item. Best wishes. Sadam Ahmed Sent from my iPhone -- _______________________________________________ Members mailing list [email protected] http://bcacug.org/mailman/listinfo/members_bcacug.org Sent from my iPhone -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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