Blind Maps, navigation for the blind
Have a look at this, a wonderful example of how technology is making strives to help the disabled! Blind Maps sits on top of the iPhones already great accessibility options, it uses voice commands to get started and a unique braille device to help keep the person in the know when approaching street crossing, detonations and more. It is a crowd source service, much like the popular Waze platform, Blind Maps has the ability to report an obstacle, reroute and let other Blind Maps users avoid the obstacle. Check out the video below.
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ramontrotman
3 Comments
Its a terrific idea. The one thing I can see limiting the progression is the amount of blind people who are using it might not be a sufficient crowd sourcing amount to generate growth and improvement.
I noticed that though the device is aimed at the iPhone it is using Google Maps for its building blocks.
Slightly off-topic, but in Hong Kong, at every damn intersection they’ve got those for-blind-people chirping walk/don’t-walk indicators that are really really loud and staccato and obnoxious. And now I’m seeing a few of those popping up in NYC.
And then whenever there’s some sort of big disaster I’ve gotta watch these annoying sign language people doing their thing next to the mayor. Distracting! Don’t get me wrong, I love helping blind people as much as the next guy, but where do we draw the line as a society?
Think on that.
Speaking of blind people, there are a whole lot of them in North Korea thanks to the whole not having anything to eat situation, somehow messes up their eyes. Like ten times the blindness incidences as the rest of the world, and no facilities to remove what usually is just a cataract.
Which reminds me of a slightly insensitive but funny joke: A Chinese man goes to the opthamologist, the doctor says “Sir you have a cataract,” Chinese man says “But I drive a Rincoln!”
What, too soon? Tough crowd…
Am I a bad person for being amused right now? I’ll have to pray extra long tonight.
Didn’t know the rate of blindness was so much higher in North Korea. Too bad they’ll let all the affluents hog the technology and just have kids walking the blind.