[gps-talkusers] London today
- From: Michael May <mikemay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GPS-talkusers-freelists.org" <GPS-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 00:31:44 +0100
I am in London for various meetings including a conference today called
PhoneAbility. The presenters were mostly university researchers from Europe
talking about their projects for ideal wayfinding. One project for example is
funded at a level of 16 million dollars. What struck me was how stuck they are
in the theoretical ideal as opposed to practical reality. Is it better to wait
forever to have perfect accuracy, perfect maps, including sidewalks, or should
we be taking advantage of what is possible today to get 50% of wayfinding
right? Obviously, Sendero opts for the latter.
As the researchers were talking about their ideal scenarios and how bad current
systems were, I was thinking to myself, I just spent 4 days in Barcelona and
Madrid, finding my way around independently. I directed my driver to the
meeting in London today through circuitous streets. What the heck are they
talking about?
Yes, the POI data is not great and yes, the GPS accuracy throws off the
streets sometimes. However, what we have today is light years beyond what we
had in 2000 when we launched our laptop version and the progress will continue
to improve accuracy and content. Many blind people are getting around
independently using the current technologies.
Mike
Michael G. May
CEO Sendero Group
Developers and distributors of BrailleNote GPS
Distributing BrailleNote, VoiceNote, Talks, Miniguide, The Tissot Silen-T
tactile watch, and the ID Mate bar code reader
MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.SenderoGroup.com
1-888-757-6810, Fax (530) 757-6830, Mobile (530) 304-0007
Sendero Group, LLC
1118 Maple Lane, Davis, CA 95616-1723, USA
Latitude, 38 33 9.239 North
Longitude, 121 45 40.145 West
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