[blindza] Loadstone cellphone GPS software along with bluetooth GPS receiver
- From: "Jacob Kruger" <jacobk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BlindZA" <blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 18:13:27 +0200
Hi
I got a bluetooth GPS receiver last week, and apart from 'adding' my
house/driveway as a 'checkpoint', I finally sort of tested the navigation
functionality of that free cellphone software (loadstone) today.
I didn't even make it out of my garden, but first I 'felt' my way around a
bit and added two other waypoints, my garden tap, and the outside toilet.
This means that I now basically have three checkpoints/waypoints sort of
forming a triangle around my house in a relatively large garden (corner
property).
Anyway, after I had added these waypoints/checkpoints, and made it right
around the house, starting from the driveway, near the 'house' checkpoint, I
selected/searched for the 'garden tap' one, checked it, and then switched
over to navigation mode where something like every 30 seconds it would then
tell me something along the lines of '10 o'clock 12 metres', and like I
said, every 30 seconds it would then give me the updated info, and then when
I got around a metre from the tap (this time without having to 'feel' my way
around the garden wall), it said something along the lines of 'arriving'.
I will still obviously go and test this combination in the actual
neighborhood after maybe getting someone to accompany me so I can add
various checkpoints on various corners etc., but I must say that is already
kinda promising.
FWIW, the loadstone software is completely free (and under development),
runs on any Symbian series 60 cellphone (and apparently also on the newer
series 80 ones), is specifically developed to work well with either Talks or
MobileSpeak, and the bluetooth receiver I got is the Holux M1000, and while
it didn't as such come with maps or anything, this Loadstone software
doesn't as such use maps as such - just gives you bearings, coordinates and
distance. This means that you basically first need to load various
checkpoints, but there are apparently various online services where you can
give it an address and it will give you the co-ordinates. What it comes
down to is that you don't really get directions from it beyond, as such,
loading your own list of checkpoints, and then being directed to the
'nearest' one.
However, this would definitely work fine in an outdoor environment, or on
something like a large campus etc., and, once again, it's completely free
although you do still obviously need to purchase the GPS receiver - which I
basically paid R1200 for (which irritatingly enough is around double what
they seem to be available for in the USA etc.).
Also, for your local environment, or on something like a bus route that you
were on regularly or something, it would actually be perfect in terms of
basically notifying you when you were 'passing' certain points etc.
I will definitely let you guys know how it goes when I move on to the next
step, but it's already promising...
One more thing I will also definitely be testing is the demo of the non-free
Wayfinder Access software which does in fact come with maps and POIs and is
also specifically designed to run on a similar cellphone using both Talks or
MobileSpeak. It's just still (although a lot cheaper than the HumanWare
Trekker system) a lot more expensive than this free software.
Stay well
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
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