Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Competition on Accessibility in Melbourne, Australia (self.Blind)
submitted by MowgliB
G'day r/Blind,
I recently found out that my $1 is running a $1 to utilise $1 provided by the council to create innovative products to assist those with different access needs.
I work in transport planning and accessibility needs are something that I believe has a long way to come in my home city. I recently attended an excursion operated by vision impairment and mobility advocates where I got to simulate different impairments. This was a moment where my understanding of the needs of others totally changed. Prior to experiencing our transport infrastructure with a physical impairment, I had the most rudimentary understanding of the needs of all transport users. Following my experience $1, I now understand how little perspective I have when it comes to navigating our city with any physical impairment.
My technical experience around consumer facing products is in web development. With that in mind, I would love to know what the r/blind community wishes was available in their local area (or unfamiliar areas) to make navigation easier or more enjoyable.
Some of the data sets available include:
* Location of accessible parking bays (including live occupancy data)
* Recent historic pedestrian volume data (1-hour resolution)
* Live weather measurements across the council area
* Building attributes (most multi-storey buildings with public access) including age, levels and accessibility attributes.
* Public toilet locations (incl. accessible)
* Trees (location, size, age, species)
* Street furniture (benches, bins, bike racks, BBQs, drink fountains, bollards)
* Business names, types and location within the Council area
* Developments under construction (construction sites)
* Landmarks (including schools, theatres, health services, sports facilities, places of worship, galleries and museums)
* Public artworks, fountains, monuments, memorials, sculptures
* Fire hydrants
* Footpath steepness
* Footpath shapes (geospatial data as complete shape - not just a line)
* Tour bus stops
* Roads and their surface types (eg: paved, sealed, concrete, etc)
* Wayfinding signage locations and content
* Taxi ranks
* Locations of pavement tactiles
I am also well versed with accessing data from the O$1 platform.
I want to make something that can make the experience for navigating the City streets more enjoyable for everyone. Keep in mind that it has to be something that you would be accessing within a web browser (either on your phone or on a desktop).
I also recommend that if you have the skills to get among the competition. There are a lot of criteria you can attempt to address.
The advice and experiences of communities like r/blind are the only way effective products can be made in the future. Thank you all in advance.
I recently found out that my $1 is running a $1 to utilise $1 provided by the council to create innovative products to assist those with different access needs.
I work in transport planning and accessibility needs are something that I believe has a long way to come in my home city. I recently attended an excursion operated by vision impairment and mobility advocates where I got to simulate different impairments. This was a moment where my understanding of the needs of others totally changed. Prior to experiencing our transport infrastructure with a physical impairment, I had the most rudimentary understanding of the needs of all transport users. Following my experience $1, I now understand how little perspective I have when it comes to navigating our city with any physical impairment.
My technical experience around consumer facing products is in web development. With that in mind, I would love to know what the r/blind community wishes was available in their local area (or unfamiliar areas) to make navigation easier or more enjoyable.
Some of the data sets available include:
* Location of accessible parking bays (including live occupancy data)
* Recent historic pedestrian volume data (1-hour resolution)
* Live weather measurements across the council area
* Building attributes (most multi-storey buildings with public access) including age, levels and accessibility attributes.
* Public toilet locations (incl. accessible)
* Trees (location, size, age, species)
* Street furniture (benches, bins, bike racks, BBQs, drink fountains, bollards)
* Business names, types and location within the Council area
* Developments under construction (construction sites)
* Landmarks (including schools, theatres, health services, sports facilities, places of worship, galleries and museums)
* Public artworks, fountains, monuments, memorials, sculptures
* Fire hydrants
* Footpath steepness
* Footpath shapes (geospatial data as complete shape - not just a line)
* Tour bus stops
* Roads and their surface types (eg: paved, sealed, concrete, etc)
* Wayfinding signage locations and content
* Taxi ranks
* Locations of pavement tactiles
I am also well versed with accessing data from the O$1 platform.
I want to make something that can make the experience for navigating the City streets more enjoyable for everyone. Keep in mind that it has to be something that you would be accessing within a web browser (either on your phone or on a desktop).
I also recommend that if you have the skills to get among the competition. There are a lot of criteria you can attempt to address.
The advice and experiences of communities like r/blind are the only way effective products can be made in the future. Thank you all in advance.
estj136 2 points 5y ago
I think there’s a lot out there... they’re just not as specific as I’d like to see them. For instance up to where the door is. GPS can only be pretty accurate and not absolutely. Some of them doesn’t take other buildings in to account. It’s 100 ft to the north. Great but there’s a store in the way. I guess if I can walk straight through sure. By the time I walk around it, I have lost my place. If it’s a new area it’s more difficult. What does 100 yards mean? How many doors down is it? I can’t read door signs.
bradley22 2 points 5y ago
Hi. there are apps out there that do this to a certain extent. BlindSquare is one and there's another made in America but I can't remember what it's called. TO read about BlindSquare, click on this link http://www.blindsquare.com/ It's a navigation app. It can't tell people how many trees or bins or benches there are but it can help us get around. It's not perfect but it's better than nothing.
As for a website that can tell me this, I'd probably not use it as I have a bad memory and remembering that there's 3 benches, 5 trees and 8 kerbs on my gerny wouldn't really help me out.
If you have any more questions, feel free to reply and i'll answer what I can.
As for a website that can tell me this, I'd probably not use it as I have a bad memory and remembering that there's 3 benches, 5 trees and 8 kerbs on my gerny wouldn't really help me out.
If you have any more questions, feel free to reply and i'll answer what I can.
MowgliB [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Thank you for your reply.
I anticipate that any website I would develop would be best used on a smart phone. There are ways of activating the GPS and vibration from the Web browser now, so I see that as a way of communicating to the user when looking at a screen is not possible or practical.
Do you think you would find the data above useful while on the go?
I anticipate that any website I would develop would be best used on a smart phone. There are ways of activating the GPS and vibration from the Web browser now, so I see that as a way of communicating to the user when looking at a screen is not possible or practical.
Do you think you would find the data above useful while on the go?
bradley22 2 points 5y ago
also, would there be sound? Let's say my phone in my pocket, I wouldn't be able to feel the vibrations as my phone is usuallly next to my wallet and other things.
MowgliB [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Correct me if you think I'm off the mark, but I saw it as something you would actively engage with first. So, even if you stick it back in your pocket, you would be thinking about it and more likely to feel it.
bradley22 2 points 5y ago
I'm honestly not sure if that would work. I think some kind of beta testing would be great for the kind of feedback you would like. I don't think I'd focus on it as I have a lot of things in my pockets so might find it hard to feel the phone vibrate.
bradley22 2 points 5y ago
I don't know. I mostly use taxis and trains and sometimes buses and when i'm walking, I don't think about the amount of Benches or bins or kerbs on my walk. What exactly would this app/website tool do? Would I be able to set a rout up and get turn by turn directions? Or is it more a tool for when you're walking around. What I mean is that the tool will tell you when you're near a bench, bin et cetra?
MowgliB [OP] 1 points 5y ago
I saw it as operating in both capacities as demanded by the user.
bradley22 2 points 5y ago
I think having another navigation app on the market would be good but I do think beta testing would be a great idea that way you know what users would want out of an app like this.
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