[infoshare] Fw: Alena Roberts - Low Cost Accessible GPS Options Matilda Ziegler Magazine

  • From: "Luis Guerra" <free_speech@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "InfoShare" <InfoShare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2010 12:08:40 -0500

Feature Writer Alena Roberts - Low Cost Accessible GPS Options - Part
1: Introduction

It used to be that you would have to stop and ask for directions if
you got lost, but thanks to GPS systems this is no longer necessary.
Unfortunately, main stream stand alone GPS devices are not accessible
to the blind, and up until recently, accessible GPS options were too
expensive for most blind people to purchase. With Apple's iPhone and
Google's Android phones featuring out-of-the-box accessibility, there
are now multiple low cost accessible GPS applications available. For
the next few weeks I will cover what I think are some of the best GPS
options for both of these platforms.

There are three applications on the iPhone that can be used either by
themselves, or together to help the blind arrive at their destination.
These include Navigon, Sendero LookAround, and Skobbler.

Navigon is a full GPS solution. Its features include turn by turn
navigation, virtual navigation of route, POI (Point of Interest)
selection for destinations, and much more. Sendero LookAround helps
the user learn their current location, their nearest cross street,
nearest POI's, and compass direction. This application was also
designed with the blind in mind. Finally, Skobbler is a turn by turn
GPS option that uses an open source map instead of maps loaded on the
phone. Although this application is free, it is missing many features
present in the other two applications, but could still be useful in
certain situations.

Although accessibility on the Android platform is not as good as the
iPhone, they are making some great progress. On Android phones there
are two applications that the blind can use to help them navigate.
WalkyTalky gives spoken walking directions, and intersection explorer
allows you to virtually navigate before venturing out. Both of these
are free in the Android Market.

Next week I will go into more detail about the iPhone applications.
Happy travels.



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