Cell phone-based service made for blind
By MANS HULDEN, Associated Press
(Published June 11' 2004)
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - A Finnish government research project that
combines cell phones, wireless Internet, global positioning, and voice
technology to help the blind move freely in cities is ready for
testing this fall.
The project, called "Noppa," is being developed by the Technical
Research Center of Finland, or VTT, a nonprofit, government-owned
research organization.
The guidance system, which works with a third-generation cellular
phone coupled to a GPS device, tells the users where they are, how to
get where they want to, and gives directions and explains obstacles by
voice.
"The idea is that the user can say, 'I'm going to such-and-such a
place,' and the system responds by saying which bus to take, and how
to get to the stop," said Ari Virtanen, a VTT researcher working on
the project.
The device is also hooked up to municipal databases to warn about road
and sidewalk construction sites when giving directions, as well as
inform about train, streetcar, and bus timetables and possible delays.
And since getting on a bus once you find your way to the stop is not
always easy, the system has some extra features, Virtanen said.
"I've heard some hairy stories about people who've had to wait an hour
for the bus because they didn't know which one to flag down when four
or five of them arrive at once," he said.
To solve this problem, the service tells the user where their bus is
and when it's expected to arrive at the stop so they know which one to
hail.
A news and information service is also available where users can hear
the latest weather reports.
The core of the system contains speech-recognition and production
software that relays requests and plays back replies in speech - all
of which is performed at a central server, not with the device. It
identifies street names and basic requests.
Operating the device with speech instead of pressing buttons is a
crucial feature for the blind, said Juha Sylberg, development manager
at the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired.
"Imagine digging out your cellular phone - which is the size of a
large box of matches - in midwinter, wearing thick mittens with rain
and sleet whirling around you, and then try to start keying away at
these tiny buttons," Sylberg said.
Although the project is not a commercial one, VTT's research, once
projects are done with, often serves as a basis for marketable
products.
"A number of similar devices are already out on the market. What we're
doing instead is trying to estimate the range and variety of services
that can be provided, and how reliable they are in real life,"
Virtanen said.
The project is going to be evaluated by a group of blind testers in
the fall.
The guidance service now works in the areas of Helsinki, the capital
of Finland, and the city of Tampere. The service works in greater
detail near service centers for the blind.
"We're doing this in tight cooperation with the Finnish Federation of
the Visually Impaired ... and every other day we get a call with
feedback from them," Virtanen said.
The project has outlined some optional components as well. Among them
is a collision detection device that informs about immediate obstacles
as well as a database of signs which could give a user a spoken
version of road and other signs in the surroundings.
In all, the researchers believe the features and the products they're
developing and testing would have a lot of appeal to a general
population.
The developers also see a financial advantage in developing the system
for a wide audience that can select what features and what kind of
guidance they want, instead of confining the research to a small
group.
"You could easily provide one type of the service for the blind,
another for tourists that want to go sightseeing, and so on," said
Sylberg, who has some blind people test some of the feature for
feedback.
"The important thing is that it all works with a generic off-the-shelf
phone and GPS, that transmit information over the Internet and with
bluetooth."
--
Ann K. Parsons
email: [log in to unmask]
WEB SITE: http://home.eznet.net/~akp
"All that is gold does not glitter.
Not all those who wander are lost." JRRT
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