A Community Driven Approach to Wayfinding for the Blind.

Wi.AT has developed an infrastructure for voice-driven navigation for the blind. The project uses Symbian-enabled smartphones as the basis for user interaction. The addition of a bluetooth GPS receiver enables users to report their coordinates to a server and subsequently receive detailed information about their surroundings. Users can select a desired location by issuing voice commands to the server. The client device then recieves directions to the location in the form of synthesized speech.

Nokia 6600 & Socket Bluetooth GPS

The use of a centralized mapping server allows users to share waypoints and routes freely. Information regarding disruptions in pedestrian navigation, such as road construction or closed sidewalks can be updated by a single user resulting in subsequent users receiving the equivalent of a pedestrian traffic report. Finally, the cost of the entire system is a fraction of the alternative solutions†.

User trials are planned for mid September. Please call 858-822-2058 for more information or to participate in ongoing user studies.

† The cost of the GPS reporting client device is as low as $149 (symbian phone) + 209 (GPS reciever) for a total of $349, as opposed to the best priced commercially availble solution out now which cost a minimum of $3,500.