[gps-talkusers] one person's take on Wayfinder Access
- From: Michael May <mikemay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GPS-talkusers-freelists.org" <GPS-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:04:48 -0700
Wayfinder Access Preliminary Evaluation
From: Mike May
As I constantly preach, in order to maximize the strengths of a product, you
must understand its weaknesses. This applies to all adaptive technology.
I applaud Wayfinder for producing their first accessible GPS for the blind. I
have been talking and meeting with them over the past 3 years since GPS on a
cell phone seemed the ultimate wave of the future. Having introduced the first
accessible GPS for a laptop in 2000 and then for the BrailleNote in 2001, I am
intimately familiar with the evolution of accessible GPS. You most certainly
have to have a version 1 before you have a version 2 and the first Sendero
version wasn't nearly as powerful as this first version of Wayfinder Access.
Seven versions and seven years since we introduced the first Sendero GPS
product, we have the benefit of time and feedback from thousands of users with
the upcoming Sendero GPS version 4. With all due respect, I would like to
present my initial impressions of Wayfinder Access as I try to understand its
weaknesses in an effort to maximize the strengths of this very powerful and
portable technology. I stress that these are initial impressions and that some
issues with the use of Wayfinder may be screen reader dependent. I am sure some
features will improve over time. Other fundamental aspects of the Wayfinder
approach are simply the trade offs of having a small portable system.
The number 1 benefit of Wayfinder is that it runs on a mobile phone, meaning
you don't have to have any other devices in order to get location information.
Having the maps on a server rather than locally on the device is both good news
and bad news. Maps on POIs on a server can be easily updated. The turn-by-turn
instructions on Wayfinder are excellent like telling the driver when to get
into the left lane or when to exit the highway. The graphics are quite good as
well. The routing and re-routing are very fast. I have encouraged sighted folks
to purchase Wayfinder since I began testing it 3 years ago.
There are a couple of fundamental issues to consider when designing wayfinding
access for a blind person. One hand of the user is always occupied with a cane
or a dog so the blind user has just one hand while moving to implement
commands. On the output side, the user has to be able to hear the information
without headphones, which would obstruct environmental cues. Braille output is
an expensive but very useful option for obtaining location information.
The best way to deal with these interface issues is to have information
announce automatically or at the least to be able to issue simple one-handed
keystroke commands. In the Sendero GPS system, one can prepare a walking or
riding trip so it is completely automatic. As you approach an intersection, the
name is announced whether you have a rout open or not. The name of the street
you are on can be announced. As you pass nearby points of interest, they are
announced. You can use a turn-by-turn route to reach your destination or you
can use the getting warmer method to get there as the crow flies. All of this
and a lot more can be accomplished without touching a keypad or keyboard.
Wayfinder Access Observations
* On Wayfinder Access, almost all functions are manual. If you want to hear
the nearby cross street, you have to arrow right several times to pull down the
list of cross streets. Another pull down gives the nearby points of interest.
Neither POIs nor cross streets announce automatically. The cross streets are
given in order of proximity and not necessarily along the street upon which you
are traveling. The nearest cross street may be behind you. The cross street
view is useful if you are stationary at an intersection but not so much when
you are moving in a vehicle.
2. If you are in the POI vicinity view, the POIs are not refreshed until you
arrow out and then back again. POIs seem to be very scarce when traveling at
vehicle speeds. The POI content is descent but not nearly as rich as the
Sendero POI data in the U.S. If you are in any of these Vicinity views, the
Guide instructions are not spoken although the human voice telling you when to
turn will announce if it is not muted.
Note: Some of the lists studded. You hear three quarters of the message and
then it starts over again and repeats the entire message. This may be the
screen reader or particular phone I am using. These are the quirks of the
combined new technologies.
3. Once you calculate a route, you can use the Guide view to hear about your
next turn. You can use the Itinerary view to arrow through subsequent turns,
one at a time. There is too much information given this view. You hear two
distance numbers, the cross street and the street you are on and the heading in
degrees to that turn. This is way too much information for the average user to
process, especially through a small speaker and in a noisy outdoor street
environment. It is easier to handle with headphones on and sitting in a vehicle.
4. Currently, all information is presented using absolute headings in degrees.
Jones street is at 172 degrees. This is an absolute heading and not a heading
relative to your direction of travel. For this to make sense, you have to also
know what your direction of travel heading is and then understand how to
compare the positions. If you are heading 139 degrees and your intersection is
at 172 degrees, that means it is slightly south and to the right of you.
Combine this degree number with the two distance numbers being given in the
same string and the information is extremely confusing for most listeners. This
is in contrast to the Sendero system which gives absolute or relative headings
to all information with the clock face, left/right or compass orientation and
each piece of information can be heard individually.
5. When you first register the Wayfinder software, the registration and license
screens are confusing to navigate with a screen reader.
6. If your receiver is not found, it may still show as connected in the options
menu. You must disconnect and then connect it again to establish a connection.
7. The bad news about the data residing on a server is that you have to pay $25
to $40 per month for a data connection in the U.S. above and beyond your
monthly voice minutes fee. The cost is around 7 pounds per month in the UK. If
the connection is lost as often happens with mobile phones, you lose your GPS
data flow. This can be rather critical if you have a route loaded and you are
depending on that route to guide you to the next turn or destination. It may be
an option to download maps from a PC and put them on the phone in that fashion
but this seems to defeat the point of a server based system.
8. It is common for users to want to switch regularly between vehicle and
pedestrian route following. In Wayfinder Access, you have to change to your
desired mode by going into the Settings and choosing Passenger, Taxi or
Pedestrian mode. Then you calculate your route. If you need to change the type
of route you wish, you have to go back into Settings. Currently the human voice
is muted when switching to Pedestrian mode.
9. Searching for a nearby business or address is pretty straight forward but it
does take a lot of keystrokes. If you are good at text messenging on a cell
phone, this isn't too bad but it isn't something easily done while standing on
a street corner. You really need to have headphones on and that isn't advisable
when walking.
10. I like having a vicinity view for Favorites the equivalent of User POIs on
the Sendero system. However, if you wish to add a point, this takes several
keystrokes. Arrow to the main menu, arrow down and press the Options key. Arrow
down to Manage and select it. Arrow down to Add New and Select it. Tap in the
letters for the name of the POI and press the Options key to confirm the
selection. It is certainly not easy to add User points in this way. You can
more easily add favorites from the MyWayfinder web site and then synchronize
those favorites with your phone although this takes some preplanning and cannot
obviously be at specific points, only at addresses, which are approximate
positions.
11. I am having stability problems on the Nokia N95 running Wayfinder Access. I
am mostly using a Bluetooth headset as this is the only way I can hear all the
instructions. I have at least one lock-up on every outing and I have to remove
the battery at least once a day. This is not necessarily Wayfinder but probably
something to do with the combination of the phone, Wayfinder, the headset and
Talks. The battery drains a lot when using both the GPS receiver and Bluetooth
headset.
Note: If Talks is speaking the Wayfinder information, or any information for
that matter, your phone cannot ring. You may miss a phone call.
12. Besides no automatic announcement of information other than turns, there
are no virtual or explore capabilities with Wayfinder Access. The Explore mode
is a major tool used by Sendero GPS users for preplanning a trip and exploring
areas outside your GPS position.
13. A user should consider the following when evaluating the cost of Wayfinder
Access. You have the cost of the phone and it must be a Symbian phone. In the
U.S., this means AT&T or T-Mobile are the carriers that use Symbian phones.
Sprint and Verizon do not. In addition to the phone, one has the following
costs:
a. A screen reader, either Talks or Mobile Speak for around $300
b. Wayfinder Access for $300 to $400.
c. A GPS receiver for around $100.
D. Optionally a Bluetooth headset for $100.
e. $300 to $460 per year for a Data plan.
When it is all said and done, the cost after a couple years is around $1600.
One need consider what else they would use the data service for like Internet
and Email. For GPS alone, $460 per year is prohibitive. If you use the Internet
regularly while on the road, it may be worth it as it is for me.
In summary, I like having Wayfinder Access on my phone as an adjunct to my
Sendero GPS for the BrailleNote. The visual map view may occasionally be
helpful to my driver and of course I love everything GPS. I expect the product
will become better over time. Its greatest weakness is the lack of automatic
announcements for cross streets and POIs. I believe this too can be improved
over time. I haven't yet tried a Braille display with my phone but this might
help a lot in understanding the street names and turning instructions that are
pretty hard to follow with speech alone. The fact that the data connection can
be lost is definitely a concern. I believe it will be some time before this is
more reliable in the U.S.
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