I can not help commenting on this U. of FLorida project.
the level of infrastructure required to be installed in any environment to
get this kind of resolution and detail makes the installation of talking
signs look like a picnic in the park.

GPS by its self simply can not produce that kind of accuracy without further
positioning data from other sources.

Who the heck is going to construct the database of sidewalks and mail boxes
etc. for even a small town, let alone a city.  Sighted people don't need it,
and nobody's going to do it for us.

There may be combinations of GPS, talking signs, and other technologies that
will give us access to maps in real time some day, but the expectations
we've all had for this technology have not been met, and having followed all
this for years with some knowledge of the technology involved, I am not holding
my breath.

Now somebody in England has won an award for yet another ultrasonic cane for
heavens sake!

Real Scientific Research is based on doing your homework and not
making the same mistakes the last guy did!  but when they are
doing work to "help the blind", rational thought goes out the
emotional window!


Makes a guy want to go in a hole and pull it in after him self.

End of venting!

Tom Fowle


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