When we release the next version within the next week or two, your app should
work in other countries where we have maps like Europe. The thing to be careful
about is the amount of data roaming. You would be wise to purchase a local SIM
card if your phone is unlocked. I keep an old iPhone 4S that is unlocked just
for this purpose.
Mike
From: gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of terrieiphone@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, August 6, 2015 3:29 AM
To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: Travel stories from Mike May
I have a question, as I have the app for GPS on my iPhone.
I am going to England Ireland Scotland and Paris France the end of this month
does this app work in this kind of these countries do I have to purchase a
version for these countries, can I purchase it for one month for these these
places as I'm not moving there to live there and like I said only need it for a
short period of time so I can Mike can you get back to me on this because I do
have a question about it because I would like to be able to use my GPS there
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 5, 2015, at 4:20 PM, Christina Stolze <christinastolze@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:christinastolze@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Thank you for sharing. I got a real good chuckle out of you poking the
construction worker with your cane. I don’t really travel especially alone but
I would love to experiment with GPS on my I phone 4s while I’m in a vehicle
going from place to place do you have any suggestions? I am looking for
something for free and that doesn’t require a lot of being tech savvy because
I’m not that good with my I phone everything I do with my I phone I do using
voice-over. Thank you in advance.
Christina Stolze
From: gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:gps-talkusers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael May
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 12:19 PM
To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [gps-talkusers] Travel stories from Mike May
In looking back at the evolution of GPS since we began working on it in 1994,
the technology has certainly evolved from a 12 pound backpack to a 6 ounce
iPhone. What remains the same is the need for and the importance of accessible
GPS as an alternative way of navigating and knowing what is around you.
I am going to post stories from the past once a month to illustrate the
significance of accessible GPS in traveling independently, no matter which
device you use. I have always said, “Any GPS device is better than no GPS
device.”
Here is the first story from 2003 when I would have been using the first
version of the BrailleNote Classic, probably with Sendero GPS version 3.5 or so.
Streets of Barcelona
June 19, 2003
I have been to Barcelona a half dozen times before and was looking forward to
exploring the city with GPS maps on the BrailleNote for the first time. I
wasn’t even sure the maps would work until I got outside the airport and sure
enough, there we were on the map, at the Barcelona Airport. How about that?
As we rode from the Barcelona airport to the Gran Hotel Catalunya, my son was
most impressed with the copious motorcycles. Once I went for my first walk, I
“saw” what he was talking about. The motor scooters were lined up like bicycles
on the sidewalks and nudged their way through the thick pedestrian traffic. I
suppose with the high cost of petrol in Spain, motorcycles are an efficient way
to get around.
A lot easier to find a parking place too.
We spent a good part of our first day, exploring the city via a double-decker
tour bus, open on the top. I had street names and some points of interest in my
BrailleNote database and the tour guide filled in the blanks with an audio
description including history of famous places. Sure is a lot of antiquity in
this city. My boy’s inssisted on going to the zoo with the world’s only known
albino gorilla. I wondered if he was visually impaired.
My favorite way to see a city is walking, eating and walking more. We quickly
adjusted to the Spanish dining schedule finishing dessert at an outdoor café in
the middle of Las Ramblas, at midnight, seriously past my kid’s bedtime back
home. There was so much activity; it was hard to think it was late with the
temperature still in the ‘80s, very conducive to evening strolling.
Besides the scooters on the sidewalks, Barcelona has some other big-city
mobility challenges. Most of the streets in this section of town are not at 90
degrees to each other. It is easy to think you are heading in one direction
only to learn after a while that you have significantly curved. Many of the
streets are very wide with inconsistent types of islands and placement of cross
walks. Pedestrians cross streets whenever they want and aren’t to be trusted as
a means of knowing when the light is green (verde). In short, it is pretty
chaotic on the streets of Barcelona and getting around independently as a blind
person is not for the faint of heart.
I met up with a local blind guy (Pep Llop, mayor of La Palma) who has a dog
guide from York Town Heights. His method of street crossing is to increase his
speed three-fold. He says, “Once you are committed, best to get to the other
side quickly.”
I was intrigued to see how well the automatic route calculation would work with
the latest Beta version of the GPS software. I left my family mid way down Las
Ramblas and set our hotel as my destination by typing in its address, 142
Carrer De Balmes, Barcelona. The route consisted of 4 significant turns over
the course of 30 waypoints. I had never walked, or driven for that matter, this
route before. Off I went, following the BrailleNote directions like, “Waypoint
15, Provenca and Ramblas, left 129 meters.”
Because of the offset street crossings, I made a couple wrong turns but was
quickly informed by the GPS that my target waypoint was “behind and to the
left.” After a couple of these missed turns and absolutely no sighted
assistance, I heard the comforting announcement on the BrailleNote GPS,
“Arrived at destination.” I was 10 meters from the front door of the hotel. It
is nice to be 49 years old and still feeling like a kid, “I did it myself”, not
to mention saving a few Euros on a taxi ride and the frustration of bad
directions from well-meaning sighted pedestrians.
A footnote: As I approached the hotel, I picked my way through some street
construction. I saw a florescent green object in my path and tapped it with my
cane. It wasn’t hard like a sign so I tapped it a bit harder as I still
couldn’t figure out visually what it was. I was startled as a burst of Spanish
profanity came from the workman bent over digging out a hole in the sidewalk.
He didn’t take too kindly to me poking him in the behind with my cane. A little
bit of vision can be dangerous sometimes.
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