A Little About Dogs and GPS — Service Dogs
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Satellite guidance for the visually impaired
16 June 2006
A prototype satellite navigation system accurate enough to direct vision-impaired pedestrians to their destination has recently been successfully demonstrated in Madrid.
Seen from a distance, a blind man guided by his dog in the streets of Madrid seems quite sure of his way. In fact, he is not listening to music with his headphones but receiving directions to his destination: “turn to the right, turn to the left, continue straight ahead…” Thanks to a mobile phone combined with a position receiver and a voice synthesizer, he can walk confidently through the city while being guided by satellite.
Developed by ESA, with the Spanish firm GMV Sistemas, this device offers greater autonomy for the visually impaired. The system is not intended to replace a white cane or a guide dog but to complement them with an ‘audible map’. The user no longer needs to seek frequent guidance from other pedestrians; the guidance equipment follows his every move and advises him accordingly. Full Article Here:
Had this one in my in box for a few days. It’s a really useful and heartwarming use of GPS technology. In outside applications, GPS will help a lot, but remember that on city streets, with a plus or minus five meter tolerance, it’s not going to guide a person into a specific doorway.
I’m glad to see the ESA. European Space Agency taking a role like this. It’s a bit interesting to note that even though so many EU members have very little to say good about the US … ever, they don’t seem to have much trouble using our free to the world service like GPS. Which is fine, that’s what we built it for.
Of course if the EU … especially France who owes its very existence to the US but whose national pastime is eschewing everything US … wasn’t completely duplicating the US GPS system with their own over-priced and under-featured Galileo … just to be able to call it _theirs_. we could equip every blind person in the EU with one of these devices and probably a lot more in other countries. Oh we;;, nations have their priorities, don’t they?
Tags: gps, gps tracking, gps for the blind, blind, service dogs
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June 30th, 2006 at 8:05 pm
That is great. I love hearing alternative postive uses for GPS.
July 2nd, 2006 at 7:33 pm
me too, Tim. I particularly like how this fits into my current “rant’ about how the “pure” GPS guys and the “pure” Wi-Fi folks are hurting themselves. The two technologies really need to merge rather than try to differentiate.
You know I haven;’t investugated low-end consumer style Wi-Fi WAPs, but I know that for years every server, network swicth, dedicated firewall, etc. has had lat long fields in its MIB (Management Information Base). Typically, noy 1 in a htousand are ever filled in when the equipment is put into service … sad.