[gps-talkusers] A day at Disney World using 6 orientation and mobility tools
- From: "Michael May" <mikemay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 6 Jul 2013 09:58:27 -0400
I took a break from the NFB conference and went to Disney World on Friday. I
connected for a bit with a few blind folks but mostly navigated on my own.
It was a lot of work! Even with The OnHand with Sense Nav, BlindSquare and
Seeing Eye GPS,, oh, and the Disney Audio Guide, I averaged about 1
attraction per hour or less.
First, in terms of Disney, the audio guide has no navigation but it does
tell you information about venues when you are in their vicinity. I found
this at Disney Land as well, it takes a while to get the units working and
the staff don't really know how to use them. In this case, the unit that
worked at the Epcot Center, did not work in the Magic Kingdom even though I
was told it would.
The staff are super helpful but most are not experienced in giving
directions or even telling you they are there. I had to depend a lot on
sighted directions and it was like pulling teeth to get useful information.
There certainly were lots of Foursquare points around the parks, available
in both of the iPhone apps. There was little value to the routing of Seeing
Eye GPS since the park streets are only partially in the map database. This
means with Blindsquare and Seeing Eye, you use the getting warmer technique
to navigate to locations. Since there are not many straight paths, this
involves a lot of circuitous walking. Nonetheless, it does work, it just
takes a while, not to mention the mobility of dense crowds. I checked into
Foursquare in hopes that I might connect with some other blind folks from
the convention but that didn't happen nor did I run across any.
My dog Tank did an incredible job. The disconnect is when I would get to a
ride where I couldn't take my dog and they would put him in a cage. One
Disney employee would watch the dog while another would guide me to the ride
and back. Didn't seem like an ideal system but at least they had a way of
making it work. I did bring a cane for this situation. I was glad to have
the dog for mobility in the crowds and to find the openings in the winding
roads and building arches. I could not have accomplished this with a cane.
The OnHand was my strongest tool, simply because of the volume of noise and
the fact that I needed my ears for mobility. I used the Braille display to
track the getting warmer destination. It didn't have all the foursquare
points so that was the down side. I added about 15 points, which are now in
the orientation and mobility tools e collective user database,
available for your download. Having the Braille display was wonderful.
I did record a replay while on Space Mountain. Not sure how well it worked
because I assume the GPS would be lost while in the heart of the mountain. I
did try to keep my hand on the display while flying through the tunnels but
it was not possible most of the time.
I am always interested in the strengths and weaknesses of the various
devices and this was certainly an opportunity to compare. They all have
their benefits. It certainly taxed my brain to operate 4 devices and to deal
with mobility and intense crowds and noise. I was exhausted by the time I
got back to the hotel. I should make you tired just hearing this story.
Bottom line, I'd recommend going to Disney World or Land with a sighted
person and perhaps one navigation device. It is too bad the Disney audio
device doesn't have a navigation component or that the Disney content isn't
stored in our user POI database, something we certainly could do. We have
marked almost all the attractions in the Disney Land parks and now we have
15 in Disney World.
Michael May, CEO
Sendero Group, Davis California
Developers of accessible GPS
Sendero Phone: 888-757-6810, extension 101
Home Office: 530-757-6900
Email: MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sendero web: http://www.senderogroup.com
General GPS web: http://www.AccessibleGPS.com
Mike May Personal: http://www.CrashingThrough.com
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