The Wayfindr digital system that since 2014 allows users with problems to navigate the London Underground using sound, wants to roll out its technology around the world.
The technologists of this just have published their plans to extend the use of the standard system, which can guide someone with sound only, using wireless technology.
The Wayfindr is the result of a cooperations between one forum for young people at the Royal London Society for Blind People (RLSB) and Ustwo. Technology consists of scattered Bluetooth φάρους γύρω από διάφορες περιοχές μίας διαδρομής που συγχρονίζονται με μία εφαρμογή σε ένα smartphone. Οι χρήστες μπορούν να ακούν οδηγίες είτε με ειδικά ακουστικά είτε με το μεγάφωνο του smartphone, και όταν περνούν από τους φάρους να λαμβάνουν συγκεκριμένες ηχητικές οδηγίες που θα τους λένε πού βρίσκονται και προς τα που να πάνε. Από το 2014, το ψηφιακό σύστημα πλοήγησης έχει δοκιμαστεί στους σταθμούς μετρό Pimlico και Euston στο Λονδίνο, καθώς και στο Σίδνεϋ της Αυστραλίας.
Mr. Kevin Dunning, London Underground Manager, reported that there are about 70 with 80 Bluetooth beacons at both Euston and Pimlico stations, that he is a supporter of the new technology and that he envisions how Wayfindr could develop across the underground network of London in the future.
And while Wayfindr is currently limited to underground spaces, manufacturers want to start developing it in other interiors, such as shopping centers and hospitals, as the community of people who are interested in implementing it in their countries has grown.
We hope that at some point it will also come to Greece, but until then if you're walking on the London Underground and you see people carrying the classic blind cane with a smartphone in front of them, don't suspect that you're being pranked. They do not represent visually impaired people, but simply listen to the directions from the Wayfindr system.
