where's the braille? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Catherine Alfieri" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2004 8:40 AM Subject: CURR: Cell phone-based service made for blind 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 _______________________________________________ Abvi-Consumers mailing list [log in to unmask] http://enabling.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/abvi-consumers ------------------------------------------------------------- See EASI Special October Bonus offer at http://easi.cc/clinic.htm EASI November courses are: Barrier-free E-learning, Accessible Internet Multimedia and Business Benefits of Accessible IT Design: http://easi.cc/workshop.htm EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi >>> Error in line 8 of EASI.MAILTPL: unknown formatting command <<< -> ............. <- ------------------------------------------------------------- See EASI Special October Bonus offer at http://easi.cc/clinic.htm EASI November courses are: Barrier-free E-learning, Accessible Internet Multimedia and Business Benefits of Accessible IT Design: http://easi.cc/workshop.htm EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi >>> Error in line 8 of EASI.MAILTPL: unknown formatting command <<< -> ............. <-