Tom Fowle wrote

> Here at Smith-Kettlewell RERC we're looking at a cell based
> system which might, might, be able to let you carry a very small
> camera and send a picture of your current location to a "remote
> sighted guide."  This is still very very preliminary, don't even
> ask when you can have one, you can't.  The purpose here would be,
> for example, when you know you're close to a desired destination,
> but just can't find it.  A "remote sighted guide" might be able
> to see something useful.  Yes there are a very great many if's
> and's and but's so don't yell at me, it's just a beginning.

How would this system differ from just having a mobile phone
with a camera and a small screen? These devices seem likely to
become popular commodities for the sighted in a few years time, 
and it seems to cover all of the functions that you describe here.
In other words, I don't quite understand your many might's, if's
and but's except that we have to wait a bit. Little or no special
action for the blindness field seems needed for this particular
development except for ensuring adequate keyboard accessibility.

Basically, you will just call a phone number in the regular way, 
and the other person will see on his or her screen either your 
face (normal sighted phone conversation usage) or the environment 
that you are pointing the camera at, to allow this other person to 
talk you to your desired destination. Vice versa, your own screen 
will also show the "remote sighted guide" as you put it, only you 
will simply not make use of your own screen. No problem with that.

By the way, I think this approach would be much more effective 
and fluent in navigation through the additional use of soundscapes.
These let you "lock on" to visual landmarks hinted at by the sighted
guide. The sighted guide will for instance say "the entrance of 
the post office is in the view on your left side in between a
row of six bright pillars". You can already hear these pillars 
from a large distance of say twenty or fifty meters as a series 
of six characteristic sound bursts, and you will not need further 
assistance from the sighted guide to find your way straight to the
entrance, without any risk of veering. You just keep the pillars 
within the camera view as represented by the subsequent soundscapes.
The gradual changes in soundscapes reflect the changes in the camera 
view as you move along and approach the entrance. The outer pillars
will move out of the camera view while the inner pillars will sound
"bigger" when you get nearer. Clearly, this approach also offers
greater independence in navigation and orientation.

The soundscape technology is already available for exploration
from the website referenced below. A portable PC and a webcam
is all that is needed to experience the sounds of all kinds of
visual landmarks. Various example soundscapes are also available
from this website, for instance at the "wall with a gate" web 
page

   http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/voiswall.htm

and a user group can be subscribed to by sending a blank e-mail
to [log in to unmask]

A regular desktop PC can be used instead of a portable PC to get
acquainted with the free software, which runs on Windows-95,98 
and NT. As said, this software is available from the URL below.

Best wishes,

Peter Meijer


Soundscapes from The vOICe - Seeing with your Ears!
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_Meijer/winvoice.htm


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