Using a location based social network and online street map, a new app designed in Helsinki has been developed for blind people that can tell them where they are and how to get back on the road in case they get lost.
The app named Blindsquare uses data from Foursquare, a social network that operates based on location, and Open Street Map, which claims it is the ‘free wiki world map’, to look up information about the surrounding area to tell the user where they are.
This is all communicated to the user through speech, and can be activated with a simple shake of the phone. Users can even save their favourite locations, and Blindsquare will notify them when they are close by.
The app is due to have further development thanks to a great deal of feedback it received from bloggers, and will introduce a new feature that tells users when buses are due to their favourite locations.
Though the app is yet to officially launch, experts claim it will revolutionise the way blind people experience different and new locations. Austin Seraphin, another tester of the app, said that “it helped me understand the geography and the layout of the streets.”
The assistive technologies market was worth an impressive $43.4bn in America alone in 2012, and is predicted to continue to increase. The sheer volume and variety of mobile sites and apps on the market means the choice for any consumer is astonishing.
