San Francisco Airport Testing Beacon System For Blind Travelers 61
An anonymous reader points out this pilot program in San Francisco to help blind passengers better navigate the airport. San Francisco Airport is testing out location-aware beacons to help visually-impaired people navigate around one of its newest terminals, a program it could roll out to the rest of the airport if successful. An early version of the system was shown off to press today for use on Apple iOS devices, though SFO also plans to make it available for Android users and eventually expand the system to serve up information for those who can see. The beacons are coming from an indoor positioning company Indoo.rs and have been installed throughout the terminal. Each beacon will connect to a smartphone app to pop up with information when a user gets within range. For the visually impaired, the system uses Apple's Voiceover technology to read out points of interest as they come on screen, though an early version of the app also gives people visual cues for how to navigate to locations from a directory that can be sorted. That means you could tell it to help you find the nearest power outlet to juice your gear, or the nearest coffee shops to recharge your body.
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I know, right!
A system that tells someone what they're standing near or how to get somewhere specific would be completely useless for someone who can't see.
fucking mouth-breather.
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It could be abused with advertising, but it really does sound like the right solution with actual potential to help the blind.
Far too much of what is done for the disabled is purely for show, based on the idea that a nuisance for the able-bodied makes the desired political statement, even if the benefit is to only a tiny fraction, if any, of the disabled population.
ADA?? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Yes, being blind sucks. That's part of why we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. Investing capital on taking care of those less fortunate is what leads to a prosperous society for all.
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Yes, being blind sucks. That's part of why we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. Investing capital on taking care of those less fortunate is what leads to a prosperous society for all.
No, it's something a prosperous society does for those less fortunate.
People on the edge of starvation don't build ramps for wheelchairs nor put Braille on signage in order to better their lives.
It's worthwhile, but let's face it: a large reason why we as a society do such things is so we can wrench our arms out of joint patting ourselves on the back about how great we are.
We do it to show that we can.
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In light of this understanding, it does make me wonder why your country doesn't have a National Health Service [wikipedia.org] favoured by many civilized countries.
Contrast this with:
* http://www.hhs.gov/ [hhs.gov]
where there's a series of questions to help you determine if you qualify for healthcare :S
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In light of this understanding, it does make me wonder why your country doesn't have a National Health Service [wikipedia.org] favoured by many civilized countries.
My guess is because we don't like paying vastly higher taxes, waiting in seemingly endless (up to two years for an operation during certain periods) lines for care (well, unless you're rich of course, in which case you don't bother with the public system in countries like the UK or Canada), being denied newer and better treatments because a committee decided against it (here coverage is determined by the insurance company and you can choose your insurance provider and plan based on your specific needs, such
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Yes, as I stated, if you have enough money, you can escape the NHS. I would argue that more people would get better care if they weren't being taxed so heavily to pay for the NHS, particularly if they aren't using it ("double payers"). The existence of a private system pinpoints a painful but obvious truth: that the NHS and systems like it are not the panacea of healthcare they're often hailed as being. For those who would otherwise have nothing available, systems like the NHS provide a safety net that ensu
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the beacons cost $20 each.
yes. resources are finite, but $20 per is not a lot.
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Unfortunately it isn't enough to include any security features or useful information. These beacons use Bluetooth Low Energy which basically transmits and unauthenticated unique identifier. The device then looks the identifier up on the internet.
Anyone can easily fake the unique ID, effectively moving existing beacons around at will. The receiving device then has to look the ID up online, so unless the airport offers free wifi most travellers will either not have any internet access or be forced to use ultr
How my mom gets through airports (Score:2)
Yes, I know you're trolling, but I'm going to comment anyway.
My mom's not blind, but her vision's really lousy (age-related macular degeneration, like a lot of old people with serious vision problems.) She takes wheelchairs in the airport, which not only takes care of navigation, but also helps her deal with distance (she can do short distances herself, but has trouble with long distances or long standing.) As the Boomer generation gets old and decrepit, we're going to start doing the same.
Using technolo
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Where is the precedent for corporations caring about users/customers?
I thought so... I guess you'll be stopping moaning about beta soon then...?
iOS? Android? (Score:1)
Out of curiosity, how do blind people use iOS or Android devices?
Re:iOS? Android? (Score:5, Informative)
first they get the manuals.. in braille. then they turn on voiceover (it's baked in to iOS)
lighthouse for the blind:
http://lighthouse-sf.org/brail... [lighthouse-sf.org]
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You can tell Siri to enable VoiceOver for you on iOS.
Android's annoying (Score:2)
Maybe a current Android phone is better, but my old one has helpful things like a microphone icon next to the keyboard that you can press and type by voice recognition instead of keyboard. Which I suppose is useful, after I put on my reading glasses to do texting or other apps in the first place. (I'm sorry, I want the equivalent of being able to tell Siri to do stuff without needing to look at the keyboard - how else am I going to text while driving\\\\\\\\ um, use the phone with limited vision? And my
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You say, "Siri, text Mom I'm going to be late" then "Siri, send".
If you're going to the Messages app and composing it there, you're doing it wrong.
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This is a belated reply, but the title was "Android's annoying". Yes, if I had an iPhone, I could use Siri, and it would Just Work, because that's what shiny Apple things do. On an Android phone, it's (optionally unlock the screen, then) go to Messaging, then hit the little microphone icon that tells it you want Google to interpret some speech, then tell it what the speech is, then hit the send button, all of which require me to put on my reading glasses first (which would be a bad idea, if I were driving
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iOS has VoiceOver that actually works pretty damn well for using iOS. So much so that the blind actually prefer using an iPhone and an iPad for their purposes than Android (which still has fairly poor accessibility especially across devices).
Tommy Edison (Blind Film Critic) demonstrates how he uses the iPhone 4s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] - composing a tweet, browsing YouTube, etc.
It is certainly unusual, but the blind have actually t
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mmmmm bacon (Score:5, Funny)
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"You know that Cinnabon odor? Like you're walking through the mall, and you're like “What's that smell? Ouch, I just got a cavity! Damn Cinnabon!” - Jim Gaffigan
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U are not. I pondered poking my remaining good eye out for a second!
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am i the only one who thought they were testing a bacon system...
Me too. I had envisioned this whole system where the smell of bacon leads them to their seat on the plane.
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I guess the moderator has not heard that this was shown on television [thetimes.co.uk].
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Sounds Rudimentary (Score:3)
There is an Israeli research group doing research into using synthesizer timbres for navigation. I hope they collaborate.
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Using signal strength you can get a rough estimate of which beacon is closest. With more than 2 beacons you can estimate your position relative to the beacons.
Beacon? (Score:1)
I read that as bacon.
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If others like you hadn't tried to opt out of providing you with a moral education, you wouldn't be asking this question.
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So... you want a beacon system for gay travellers?
Priorities (Score:2)
That means you could tell it to help you find the nearest power outlet to juice your gear, or the nearest coffee shops to recharge your body.
Or, you know, the way to your boarding gate. That may have been a slightly more pertinent example in this case.
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Won't somebody think of the 'convenience' shops selling $10 candy?!
Non-technical solutions (Score:2)
This really seems like an over-hyped, massively expensive technical solution to a problem that could easily be fixed with some volunteer organizations providing guides on an as-needed basis. Here's a thought: require all public high school students to provide X number of hours (start with 200) of public service as a requirement for graduation. Do something similar with college students receiving Federal student aid. Oh look, suddenly volunteers everywhere! And these volunteers can actually adapt to the need
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Here's a thought: require all public high school students to provide X number of hours (start with 200) of public service as a requirement for graduation.
Why do you hate workers? Why do you love slavery? Why don't you want people to be paid for their work?
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Accessibility in iOS [apple.com].
So ironic (Score:2)
SFO is one of the worst offenders in the "poorly labeled airports" category. Even with good eyesight, it's a mess to navigate.
Perhaps they can learn something from this project, and use it on sighted users as well.