Blindsquare

Blindsquare is a new app that will help blind people navigate and give them a better feel for what is around them. It combines aspects of already existing apps to make it work. For example, it uses the maps come from Open Street Maps and integrates venue data from another application called Foursquare. Using that data it then takes the text to speech feature from Acapela and Apples Voiceover technology. This technology speaks out what is around a person at any given time and allows you to speak to the phone. Blindsquare has the ability to tell a blind person what restaurants or businesses are nearby. It will share with the visually impaired what streets are nearby, give distances and directions which all help a blind person gain a better idea of where they are.

In a way this application is much like a more interactive GPS system. The user can search through the integrated data by categories such as food or stores. Blindsquare is like having a tour guide in your pocket. You simply ask your Apple device where you would like to go or what you would like it to search for you and it returns your request with a plethora of results. One can simply walk down the street and it will share interesting places nearby. When you select a target, Blindsquare can give you the locations contact info, open a twitter feed or restaurant menu, make a phone call, track the place, and start navigating your route. You can then add places to your favorites. This device can even tell how you are traveling, by foot or vehicle.

Technology is changing the way we live and is becoming more a part of our lives each day. This new tool gives the visually impaired a new way to interact with technology in a way they never could before. This gives them then the ability to search for something around them quickly and easily. Having all this information in one place will save someone who is blind a great deal of time. Before these advancements in technology people would have to do a great deal of searching to find places of interest. For example, people would not know if a restaurant was good before without doing research or asking a friend who has been there before. What this app does it allows people to interact with people who they have never met before but have already been to the restaurant and given a review. What makes this app so great is that it is always being updated. The more people check in with Foursquare, the more this app will be updated with new points of interest.

 

 

Cites:

 

MIPsoft. (n.d.). BlindSquare for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd

generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store. Apple - iTunes - Everything you need to be entertained. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindsquare/id500557255?mt=8

Thompson, C. (n.d.). BlindSquare: a digital guide for the blind. About Foursquare - An unofficial

blog covering foursquare badges, news and apps. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from http://aboutfoursquare.com/blindsquare-digital-guide-blind/