GPS for the blind...

This is a blog entry I have to "somewhat" simulcast. On FC, I put the emphasis on the human aspect. Here, I can get geeky all I want... and post links and mention names. :)

Sunday night, I was watching Radio-Canada's Découverte, their science show.

They ran a story about talking GPS. No big deal as you might say. You can get one installed on your car. Beside their screen, they guide you verbally. "Turn right on 4th avenue. Go 300ft and turn left".

The folks at a small local company, Humanwear thought: Why not bringing that technology to the blind?

This story touches me. One of my naive... ideals when I began programming, is that computer could help... humans. Especially with our handicaps. I guess it's the Good Samaritan in me speaking. :) Anyhow, and this was way back in the 80s, there were researches on visual recognition.

Some hard facts of life (such as $$$ and the urge to have... a life) the academic world wasn't exactly for me, so like many students freshly out of the university... I worked for businesses. I refined my craft there and here I am today. Nonetheless my interest was and still is about computers being programmed to help us cope with the real life... despite our handicaps.

And it seems to me that the worst handicap... is being blind. Close your eyes, and try to get outside and walk a few blocks. Have fun. :)

So the story touches me deeply, for the human aspect. As a software programmer, it gets interesting to see how computers are programmed to do wonders. Also, there's that dilemma that all programmers face: To be able to *fully* understand the problem, so a programmer could work on a computer model.

We can second guess all we want based on observations, but only blind people could express their need. They're the ones who can't see.

One surprising comment that kept coming: The need to know where they are. It's one thing to have a service dog, but you must have in your head a map of the city, and to be able to pinpoint where you are... and your only clues are tactile feels (such as intersections) and audible clues.

Often blind people had to ask people where they are.

So they work on a prototype. They used a Compaq iPaq PDA (ironically, it's exactly the same model I have), a GPS receiver, a map database, and an extra battery pack, because all these things eat lots of energy. So, they went from the straight talking GPS for cars and augmented with data that blind people need to know.

Street intersection. There might be a traffic light or a stop sign. There might be an island half way. Perhaps to warn that the street has just one sidewalk and it is on the other side.

Then they augmented the database by including bus stops, then some obstacles like fire hydrants.

Now their goal is to augment the database again by showing where businesses are.

The technology has its quirks and shortcomings. It can't tell that sidewalks haven't been plowed (and boy did we have a lot of snow this season), nor it will tell you when it's safe to cross the street, even when you have a service dog.

To the amazement of programmers, when they ask blind people to test drive their prototypes, there were new uses that were found.

-"When I ride the bus, I'm no longer dependant on the bus driver to tell me when I should get off. The talking GPS keeps me updated about where we're going."

-"I didn't know there was that café next by, so I can stop and have a cup of coffee. Nor I was aware of that bakery. So this technology gives me eyes. I can SEE my city... again, and no longer missing what is there".

Probably the story won't mean much to you, but to me, in many ways, it does.

Links:
Radio-Canada Découverte. Look for the Sunday March 23rd 2008 show and for "GPS pour aveugles". Click on the link and you'll see the story. The story is in French, and sadly, there's no closed-captioning.

Humanware. A bilingual French/English site. Besides their talking GPS, they have all sort of funky equipments.