[vicsireland] Re: Fw: [gps-talkusers] my comparison of Mobile Geo and Way finder Access
- From: "Tony Sweeney" <tonysweeney1@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:25:26 -0000
Hi Flor, & All,
Just got around to reading Mike Arrigo's interesting and informative article
which you posted to this list recently.
Now I often wondered about hearing a "working" review of the GPS system,
Loadstone!
See something about that below and hoping for more from any Loadstone user
in the future.
It would be good too!
The following appeared in The Sunday Times 16 November 2008
Tony
Free satnav developed for the blind.
By Mark Macaskill
A BLIND man has developed a free satellite navigation system for the
visually impaired that can guide them around any city in Britain by
giving them instructions on their mobile phone, writes Mark
Macaskill.
The technology, similar to that used by in-car satnav devices, can be
used to locate buildings, bus stops, tube stations, cashpoints and
taxi ranks as well as navigating streets.
Monty Lilburn, 33, from Glasgow, who is blind, created the mapping
software as an alternative to conventional GPS devices.
His system, Loadstone, can be downloaded free of charge from the
internet and has won plaudits from Nokia, the mobile phone company,
and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).
Blind and partially sighted people are able to navigate by wearing a
GPS transmitter, roughly the size of a matchbox, which pinpoints
their position and communicates with the mobile phone via Bluetooth
radio technology.
When the co-ordinates or postcode of the desired destination are
entered, the phone "speaks" directions to the user.Instructions are
given, including the distance needed to travel before taking a turn,
and a series of beeps indicates when the destination has been reached.
The system uses information from sources such as Traveline, a
partnership of transport operators and local authorities, which
provided GPS co-ordinates for every bus stop, tube station and ferry
terminal in Britain.
However, the software will not replace a guide dog or a white stick,
because it is unable to detect obstacles.
The system, which is used in conjunction with the new generation of
digital phone, is expected to become hugely popular.
There are 2m people in Britain who are visually impaired and some 37m
worldwide.
Lilburn's invention will be officially unveiled in Edinburgh next
week as part of an international technology seminar.
"It gives people much greater freedom and best of all it's relatively
inexpensive," says Lilburn. "When you're in a taxi, for example, you
can be confident that you're being taken on the shortest route."
Alison Long, of the RNIB, said: "This software goes a long way to
providing some people with the independence they so desperately want.
The fact that it's been developed by blind people for blind people
makes it particularly special."
Mark Palmer, a consultant with User Vision, an Edinburgh-based IT
consultancy, which will showcase Lilburn's technology, said: "This
has the potential to change a blind person's life."
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Flor Lynch" <florlync@xxxxxx>
To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 10:49 PM
Subject: [vicsireland] Fw: [gps-talkusers] my comparison of Mobile Geo and
Way finder Access
> This is long. But it's a good article, and was sent by its author, Mike
> Arrigo, to quite a few lists. It isn't often we get a review with
> worked-out comparisons between two different GPS products.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Arrigo" <n0oxy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 8:29 AM
> Subject: [gps-talkusers] my comparison of Mobile Geo and Way finder Access
>
>
> Hello everyone. Since I do have phones that use windows mobile and the
> symbian platforms, I did purchase way finder access
>
> and Mobile Geo, which allows me to have GPS features on both operating
> systems. Since I have both, I thought I would post my
>
> thoughts on both of them. Both are good products, but there are some
> differences which I will mention. First though, in
>
> fairness, way finder access has been out for around a year, where as
mobile
> geo was just released recently, and I'm sure both
>
> will improve over time. Also, remember that these are only my views on
each
> product. A feature that is important to one
>
> person may not be to another. Fortunately, you can try each product before
> purchasing it. Also, currently Way Finder Access
>
> only works on the Symbian operating system, where as Mobile Geo only works
> on Windows Mobile. So, the type of phone you have
>
> will determine which product you will need to purchase, unless you choose
to
> switch phones.
> Before I get in to the details and comparing of each product, let me say
> that I think both products provide the functionality
>
> a blind person needs to explore their environment and navigate to a
> destination. There are advantages and disadvantages to
>
> each which I will talk about, but when it's all said and done, I think
both
> products are fairly even. Now let's compare some
>
> aspects of each in more detail.
> First, the method of storing the maps is different for the two products.
For
> Mobile Geo, you download the maps, and store
>
> them on a memory card in your phone. This has advantages and
disadvantages.
> You don't have to be in a coverage area for the
>
> product to work. However, if you travel to another state for example, you
> must remember to load the maps for that state, or
>
> hope that you will be able to access a computer once you arrive in order
to
> do this. Way Finder Access on the other hand,
>
> gets its map information from the internet as it needs it. The advantage
> here is that you don't have to worry about loading
>
> new maps in to your phone when traveling since they will be downloaded
when
> needed. Of course, if you should happen to be in
>
> an area with no cell coverage, this won't work. For this reason, way
finder
> access does allow you to load the maps in to your
>
> phone the same way Mobile Geo does. That said, cell carriers have quite
good
> coverage now a days, so while it's possible this
>
> could be a problem, I would say it's highly unlikely. Also, since Access
> only works with Symbian phones, and Symbian phones
>
> only work with GSM, in the United States you are limited to using either
> AT&T or T-Mobile. On the other hand, there are
>
> Windows Mobile phones for GSM and CDMA carriers, so Mobile Geo supports
more
> devices. Personally, I think GSM is a better way
>
> to go for a few reasons. First, it's considered the global standard for
cell
> phones, and is used throughout the world.
>
> Second, your phone number is stored on a card, not in the phone itself.
This
> allows you to switch phones by simply moving the
>
> card to a different phone, and you are not limited to the phones that the
> carrier provides. In order to use Way Finder
>
> Access, you do need a data plan, and I will talk more about that in the
> section on pricing for each product.
> One reason many blind people purchase a GPS product is to know more about
> their surroundings, such as intersections, and
>
> businesses that are close by. I'm going to talk about intersections and
> points of interest separately because the comparisons
>
> for both GPS products are different.
> Both products provide features to automatically announce what you are
close
> to. Mobile geo provides the look around
>
> announcements, and you can set what information you want to know about,
such
> as street crossings and points of interest.
>
> Access provides different views you can switch to, such as cross roads
near
> by, places near by, and all near by which
>
> combines both of these.
> In the case of Mobile Geo, if you have the look around announcements
> enabled, the software will announce the street you are
>
> on when it starts, and will tell you what street you are approaching by
> telling you what street is ahead of you, or it may
>
> indicate the approaching street is slightly to the left or slightly to the
> right. It also provides commands for obtaining
>
> more details about intersections you are close to.
> Rather than indicating streets are on your left or right, way finder
access
> tells you the direction of the closest
>
> intersection. For example, it may indicate that an intersection is 200
feet
> north. Access also announces this as degrees, and
>
> I do hope they add a feature to disable this, as not everyone is
interested
> in the distance in degrees, feet and miles are
>
> much more meaningful. While Access does not indicate if the crossing is
> ahead or behind you, it is still obvious for a couple
>
> of reasons. First, if you use the "where am I" feature, access will tell
you
> the city you are in, the street you are on, and
>
> the direction you are traveling in. So, for example, if the software
> indicates you are walking north, and indicates an
>
> intersection is north, north east, or north west, it's obvious you are
> approaching it. Also, Access has the ability to
>
> automatically update the list of intersections based on a time interval
that
> you set, and if the number of feet to an
>
> intersection is decreasing, you are obviously approaching it. As far as I
> know, Mobile Geo does not provide a way to adjust
>
> the time between updates for the look around announcements, it's hard
coded
> at 30 seconds. Way finder access also provides a
>
> command to obtain more information about the intersection. So again, for
> automatically announcing street crossings near by, I
>
> believe both products are equal.
> Now let's look at how both products provide information about places that
> are close to you, also known as points of interest.
>
> The type of information provided is similar to what is provided for
> intersections. That is, mobile geo will announce for
>
> example that McDonalds is 200 feet ahead and slightly to the right, where
as
> way finder access would say something like 200
>
> feet north east, 38 degrees, Mcdonalds. So, if you used the where am I
> feature in access and it said you were heading north,
>
> you would know that McDonalds was slightly on your right, since East is a
> quarter turn to the right, and north east is less
>
> than a quarter turn. Both products provide a method for obtaining more
> information about a point of interest, such
>
> as address, phone number etc. You can even automatically call the place if
> you wish.
> Way Finder Access does currently have an issue where it does not
> automatically announce every point of interest in it's
>
> database. So, at this time, Mobile Geo will automatically announce more
> places as you pass them then Way Finder Access does.
>
> Hopefully this is something that will be fixed soon. A good example of
this
> is an ice cream place near where I live in Saint
>
> Louis. In the places near by or all near by views, it is never announced
> even when passing it. However, if I do a search for
>
> it by name, it is found and I can create a root to it. Both products allow
> you to set the categories of places you are
>
> interested in hearing about. For now, when it comes to automatically
> announcing places close to you, I would give mobile geo
>
> the advantage because it announces more places. If the issue I mentioned
can
> be corrected, so all points of interest are
>
> shown in the places and all near by views, I think they both would be
about
> equal.
> Besides obtaining information about what is in your environment, the other
> main purpose for having a GPS system is to receive
>
> directions for getting from one place to another. Both products provide
this
> feature, and I will do some comparisons of these
>
> features for you.
> First let's look at creating a root to a place that you are close to,
which
> may have been announced by the look around
>
> feature of Mobile Geo or in the places near by or all near by views of Way
> Finder Access. It is quite easy to create a root
>
> here, on the Mobile Geo main screen, press enter on the point of interest
> which will give you more information about it such
>
> as address and phone number. If you press enter again, you can choose to
set
> it as your destination and whether to create a
>
> vehicle or padestrian root. In way finder access, in the places near by or
> all near by views, move to the business you want
>
> to create the root for, and press the left soft key to open the options
> menu. From here, you can choose to get more
>
> information such as the address and phone number, or to navigate to the
> place, which creates the root. The type of root that
>
> is created, vehicle or padestrian is determined by changing an option in
the
> settings screen of the program. One thing I
>
> would suggest for way finder access is that it would allow you to select
> vehicle or padestrian when creating the root rather
>
> than having to go to the settings screen to do this. In Way Finder Access,
> there is also a setting to determine how a root is created, either for the
> least distance, or the fastest way. Usually, for a vehicle root, you want
to
> choose the fastest way, and for a padestrian root, you will want to choose
> the least distance, but it's up to you in either case. Both products allow
> you to access other points of interest besides the
>
> one that is closest to you. For mobile geo, doing a long press of the
number
> 8 on the keypad will open a list of places that
>
> are close to you along with their location from where you are. In Way
Finder
> Access, there is no need to access a different
>
> screen. If you are in the places near by view, the closest place is shown
> first, if you want to see others that are close by,
>
> just arrow down. Both products will allow you to create a root to a point
of
> interest using the methods described above.
> Now let's talk about creating a root to an address or place of business
you
> may not be close to. Both products allow you to
>
> do this, however, this is where I believe more work needs to be done in
> Mobile Geo to make this more user friendly. In
>
> fairness, again, this is only the first release and I'm sure this will get
> better as the product evolves. The quickest way to
>
> create a root is to do a long press of the number 2 on the keypad, then
> choose set destination. You now need to select a city
>
> to use if a default city has not been set. You can choose a default city
> that will always be used which will allow you to
>
> avoid this step. You then press the left soft key to go to the next screen
> where you enter the house number, not the street
>
> yet. Press the left soft key again and type the street name. Press the
left
> soft key once again and the program will search
>
> for the street. If more than one is found, select the appropriate street
> from the list, and you can then choose what type of
>
> root to create. Assuming your GPS receiver is connected, the root will
then
> be created from your location to the destination.
> If you want to search for a place of business you must go to a different
> screen, the long press of number 2 only searches for
>
> addresses. For this, press the left soft key for the functions menu, and
> choose search, then choose advanced search. Now
>
> enter the minimum distance from your location and press the left soft key
to
> go to the next screen, then enter the maximum
>
> distance away from where you are that you want to search. Press the left
> soft key again, and choose the category of place you
>
> are searching for. Press the left soft key again, and choose the
subcategory
> if any, then press the left soft key once again.
>
> You can now enter the name of the place you are looking for, or just leave
> this blank if you want to see all places in the
>
> category you have chosen. Press the left soft key one more time and the
> program will now conduct the search. When the list
>
> appears, you can select the item you want, and create a root using the
> method I have already described.
> The way all of this is done in Way Finder Access, at least in my opinion
is
> far easier and less cluttered. In Way Finder
>
> Access, arrow to search and select it. You can now type either the name of
a
> business or a complete address, no need for two
>
> different screens. While Access does provide a place to enter a city or
zip
> code, and a state, if you leave these blank and
>
> your GPS is connected, it assumes that you want to search in the city
where
> you are based on the information from the GPS. I
>
> don't know how many miles it does for the search, at least 100 I think,
> which could produce quite a few results if you search
>
> for a common place such as McDonalds for instance. If you want to limit
your
> search to a category, press the left soft key to
>
> open the options menu, and choose select category. Also, if you just want
to
> search for a category around where you are such
>
> as a resturaunt, leave the field blank where you would enter the address
or
> business name, and choose select category from
>
> the options menu. Press the left soft key to open the options menu, and
> select search. Assuming a match is found, the search
>
> results list appears. Select the result that matches what you want, and
the
> root is created based again on how you have this
>
> set in the settings screen. At this point, I think it is much faster and
> easier to do a search for a point of interest or
>
> address in Way Finder Access. Both of these are done from one screen, an
> address can be entered all at once, and there is no
>
> need to set default cities or choose the city you want each time. If the
> city, zip code and
>
> state are not entered, Access assumes, rightly so, that you want the
search
> to take place in the area where you are. You only
>
> need to fill in these fields if perhaps you are going on a long vehicle
> trip. Hopefully, in Mobile Geo, this process will
>
> become less cluttered in the future. The one suggestion I would have for
Way
> Finder Access in this area is to allow you to
>
> limit the search to a certain number of miles or kilometers in case you
want
> to make your search in a certain distance range.
> Ok, we have looked at searching for an address or business, now what about
> root creation, instructions to guide you, and
>
> handling a situation where you may go off track. When it comes to creating
> the root, by far, Way Finder Access is faster.
>
> There is really no comparison here. On any of my Symbian phones, after
> selecting the item from the results screen, the root
>
> is created in a very short time, at most 5 seconds. This is because the
root
> creation is not actually done by the phone
>
> itself. What happens is, a request is sent through the internet to the way
> finder server. The server actually creates the
>
> root, then sends it to your phone. Obviously this could be a problem if
you
> were trying to create a root in an area where
>
> cell coverage is not available, but again, with the coverage carriers have
> now, this is highly unlikely. Also, once your
>
> phone has the root, even if you were to lose the coverage for some reason,
> you would still continue to receive instructions
>
> for this root. The only time you may have a problem is if you were to go
off
> of your root, and that particular spot had no
>
> coverage. In that case, the program would not be able to create a new root
> from where you were, but again, the chance of
>
> having no coverage at that point is very slim.
> For Mobile Geo, at least on the phone I am using, it takes quite a bit
> longer to create a root, usually around 20 to 30
>
> seconds. I am using an HTC Mteor with 128 MB of memory, about 40 MB free,
> with the maps on a memory card. The processor is a
>
> 300 MHZ processor, which is fast for a Mobile Phone. It's running Windows
> Mobile 5, and there are no firmware updates for it,
>
> so I'm assuming the firmware is current. Also, when calculating a few
roots,
> the connection to the receiver was lost, so I
>
> needed to reconnect and then recreate the root. I'm not sure if this is
> actually a Mobile Geo problem, or a problem with
>
> Windows Mobile itself, but it is something to be aware of, and I don't
think
> it's the receiver, since it has happened with a
>
> few different ones that I have.
> Once the root has been created, you will begin to receive instructions as
> you travel. Mobile Geo provides two methods for
>
> following the root, you can have it only announce the points that require
> you to make a turn or do something else such as
>
> exit the highway, or it can announce every point in the root. My
suggestion
> is to only have it announce points where you must
>
> do something, having every way point announced, at least for me, is far
too
> much information run together, especially while
>
> on a highway. Granted, some of the highways we have around here have long
> names on the map, so I don't know if this would
>
> always be the case. Even when set to only mention the way points where you
> must do something, some times this still is too
>
> verbose and runs together. For one thing, a setting should be provided to
> not mention the way point number in the root, also,
>
> especially on a highway, the program repeats the instruction to continue
> ahead on the highway several times. In the roots I
>
> tested the program with, the person doing the driving already knew where
to
> go, but if this wasn't the case, it could be
>
> difficult for the user to sort out the information given in each
instruction
> and then relay it appropriately to the driver.
>
> This wasn't as much of a problem on streets, since the instruction would
> simply say something like, turn right and go south
>
> on first street. Also, while on a highway, I needed to turn off the look
> around announcements because between that and the
>
> instructions, it's way too much speech. Again, some of this could be the
way
> the highways are named here, but it's definitely
>
> something to be aware of. Also, while you can always check the distance to
> your next turn, this is not automatically
>
> announced until there is only 0.4 miles to that turn. That may not always
be
> enough time for the driver to prepare for the
>
> turn, this should probably either be a user setting or at least be
increased
> to one mile for the first automatic message.
> Way Finder Access takes a bit of a different approach for the
instructions.
> If you create a vehicle root, the guide view
>
> shows the distance to the next turn and what street to turn on or exit the
> highway to. This can be read with your screen
>
> reader. A female voice provides the actual instructions. However, when
> instructing you to turn, she does not say the street
>
> names, this may or may not be important, but you can always find out what
> the street is by using your screen reader to read
>
> the guide view. Typical things she will say include "In a quarter of a
mile,
> turn left," and "turn left here." She will also
>
> tell you when to exit a highway, and to keep left or keep right if getting
> in a certain lane is important. She will also tell
>
> you when you have reached the destination, or if you go off track. Though
> she doesn't say the street names, none of the
>
> drivers I have been with have problems following the instructions, and
> remember that you can always find out the name of the
>
> street to turn on by reading the guide tab. Way Finder Access also
provides
> a turn instruction much earlier so the driver can
>
> prepare for the turn. THe first prompt comes when the turn is in 2 miles.
> The next is 1 mile, then a half a mile, a quarter
>
> of a mile, 500 feet, and finally the turn left or turn right here prompt.
If
> that is too many prompts, you can decrease this
>
> so only the last few are given.
> When you create a padestrian root in Access, by default, the female voice
is
> muted, and your screen reader, either talks or
>
> mobile speak provides the instructions. For these roots, the street names
> are spoken. For example, you might hear "Walk 500
>
> feet then turn right in to First Street. Of course, you are also told
> exactly when to turn at the appropriate times. While
>
> the direction of travel is not given in the instructions, you can always
use
> the where am I feature by pressing 8 on the
>
> keypad, which will tell you the street you are on and your direction of
> travel. In a padestrian root, the screen reader will
>
> also tell you when you reach your destination or if you go off track. I
> haven't tested Mobile Geo yet with a padestrian root,
>
> hoping to do that next week, however I have had no problems getting to
> places using the instructions in a Padestrian root in
>
> Way Finder Access. To summarize this section, I think both products
provide
> good instructions to get you where you need to
>
> go. I think Mobile Geo needs more options for eliminating some of the
speech
> in the instructions, particularly the way point
>
> number in the root. Perhaps Way Finder Access could include the direction
of
> travel in the instructions for Padestrian roots
>
> in a future release.
> What about the ability to know what you are close to while on a root? Both
> products allow you to monitor the streets and
>
> places you are passing while on a root. In the case of Mobile Geo, the
look
> around feature works while on a root, so streets
>
> and places will be announced along with the instructions. Depending on the
> root you are taking though, this may produce too much speech, especially
if
> you are dealing with long names, but the feature is available if you wish.
> In Way finder Access, you have a few options available. The program
provides
> a feature called "Around you. This view is most
>
> useful while on a padestrian root. It provides instructions for the root,
as
> well as announcing a point of interest or
>
> intersection as you pass it. By default, the female voice is muted for
> padestrian roots, but you can override this in
>
> settings and bring her back. If you do this, you can then switch to the
> other views such as places near by, or cross roads
>
> near by, and they will read and update as usual. In that case, your screen
> reader will read those views, telling you what you
>
> are passing, and the female voice will give you the turn instructions. The
> one thing you will lose though if you use this
>
> approach is having the name of the street you will be turning on
announced.
> Other than that, it works fine. If you need to
>
> know the streets you are turning on, and also want to know what you are
> passing, the "around you" view is a better choice. In
>
> short, I think both products are equal here. Both will allow you to
monitor
> your environment while still providing
>
> instructions for a root.
> Both products have a feature that will recalculate the root if you miss a
> turn or otherwise diviate from the root. However,
>
> though I had this enabled when testing it with Mobile Geo, for some
reason,
> it did not work at all. To explain what happened,
>
> I need to tell you a little about my street. There is an exit to my street
> from the highway, the only thing is, when getting
>
> off the highway on to my street, you will be on the wrong side. Both
Mobile
> Geo and Way Finder Access must realize this,
>
> because both products include a turn somewhere in the root to go around
the
> block, thus putting you on the correct side of
>
> the street. However, many times, those who are familiar with this area
will
> simply stay on the street all the way, then make
>
> a u turn at the destination. Neither product includes instructions for
> making a u turn like this, and that's probably a good
>
> thing since this can be unsafe. So, using Mobile Geo, we got off the
> highway, and it wanted us to turn on to another street
>
> in order to circle the block. The person I was with has driven this way
> countless times and always just continues to my
>
> place, then does the u turn to get on the correct side of the street. So,
> rather than following Geo's instruction, we
>
> remained straight. Though the option to automatically reroot was enabled,
> Mobile Geo never recalculated the root, or even
>
> indicated that we had reached the destination when we pulled in. When
> checking the next turn, it was still indicating the
>
> turn we passed and that it was a couple miles behind us. I'm not sure what
> happened here, I will test this again next week on
>
> the bus to work, since the root the bus takes is not the most direct way
to
> that destination. But, at least for the root I
>
> tested Mobile Geo with, it failed the reroot test completely.
> Way Finder Access on the other hand handles this situation without
problems.
> It has never failed to reroot, at least for me.
>
> I took the exact same trip home the evening of Thanksgiving, and when
Access
> said to turn, we didn't. We continued straight,
>
> and as expected the Way Finder female voice gave us the friendly message
> that we were off track. It rerooted, and after the u
>
> turn, as we pulled up to my apartment, told us we had reached the
> destination. I have tested Way Finder Access in other
>
> situations like this as well, some times the person I am with will choose
to
> go a different way perhaps to avoid a long
>
> traffic light. Access has never failed to reroot at those times. I will do
> more testing with Mobile Geo next week with the
>
> reroot feature, I'm hoping that this was just an isolated case, otherwise
> this is a serious bug.
> Well, we have looked at creating and following roots in real time, what
> about exploring everything virtually? Is it possible
>
> to have a look at other places to find out what interesting businesses or
> streets are in those areas? The answer is yes for
>
> both products. It is also possible to create a root, then have a detailed
> look at the root without actually walking or
>
> driving around. In Mobile Geo, you can press 7 on the phone keypad, and
this
> will switch you to virtual mode. From here, you
>
> can move up down left and right to explore everything on the map. If you
> switched to virtual mode while connected to a GPS
>
> receiver, your virtual position will start where the GPS says you are,
> unless you have set a virtual position manually. In
>
> the case of Way Finder Access, you can go to the map view, and move
around,
> and your screen reader will announce the streets
>
> you land on. If you want to explore an area other than where you are, you
> can set a virtual position just as you can with
>
> Mobile Geo. To do this in Access, first select disconnect from GPS from
the
> options menu. Now go to the search screen, and
>
> enter an address or point of interest that you want to use as your virtual
> position. In this case, you will need to enter
>
> information such as city or zip code and state. Now press the left soft
key
> and choose search from the options menu. Select
>
> the result you want, then open the options menu again and choose use as
> position. Way Finder Access will now pretend you are
>
> at this location, you can explore the map, or use the different views to
> find out what is around this area. This also works
>
> in Mobile Geo. That is, you can enter an address or find a place on the
map,
> and tell Geo to treat this as your virtual
>
> position. From here, you can do a long press of 8, and the points of
> interest will be provided relative to this position.
>
> With both products, when you are done traveling in the virtual world, it's
> quite easy to warp yourself back to where you are
>
> in reality. In Mobile Geo, just press 7 on the keypad again, and at an
> amazing warp speed, your position is transported back
>
> to where you are, as indicated by the GPS. In Way Finder Access, from the
> main screen, press the left soft key for the
>
> options menu, and choose connect to GPS. Just like that, in the blink of
an
> eye, the virtual world will fade away, and the
>
> software will once again indicate where you are in the real world.
> Whether you create a root from a virtual starting position or from your
GPS
> position, it is possible with both products to
>
> have a good look at the root without actually driving or walking it. In
> Mobile Geo, pressing 6 on the phone keypad will tell
>
> you the next turn you will need to take. If you press 6 again within 6
> seconds, the next turn will be given. You can continue
>
> doing this to see all of the turning points in the root. If you would
rather
> see the root point by point, just do a long
>
> press of number 6. You can now cursor through each point and take as much
> time as you want in order to familiarize yourself
>
> with the root.
> Way Finder Access also provides two different ways to study a root. Once a
> root is created, you can go to the itinerary view,
>
> and arrow through each step of the root. This will indicate all turns, as
> well as entering and exiting highways. One item
>
> that can be a bit confusing here, for each step of the root, two distance
> numbers are given, and some times the speech runs
>
> these together. The first distance given is how far to travel before the
> next turn or exit, and the second number is the
>
> distance traveled for the entire root.
> The other feature Access provides allows you to play the root. That is,
the
> program pretends you are actually
>
> driving or walking, and gives all of the prompts acordingly. To do this,
> press the left soft key for the options menu, choose
>
> root, and select play. There are also options to speed up or slow down how
> fast the root is traveled. If you have some
>
> useable vision, there is a setting you can enable to always show your
> position on the map. This could also be useful for your
>
> driver as it will allow them to actually view the entire root on the map
> beforehand. If a root is playing, and the option to
>
> show the position on the map is enabled, you can go to the map view, and
the
> map will actually move as if you are driving or walking the root. Though I
> do not have enough vision to see the map, I have been told that the
quality
> of the map that is displayed is quite good. So in summary, I think both
> products provide a good way to enter the virtual travel world, and study
> roots without actually driving or walking them.
> What about getting a GPS status? That is, finding out how good the signal
is
> from the satellites? Both products will do this,
>
> but I think Mobile Geo does this far better. By pressing 0 on the phone
> keypad, Geo will tell you how many satellites you are
>
> tracking, as well as the signal quality, such as fair, good, or WAZ which
is
> the best quality. It will also indicate how
>
> accurately your receiver is able to determine your position in feet. So,
if
> it indicates 10 or 12 feet, you are getting a
>
> much more accurate reading than something like 30 feet.
> In Way Finder Access, you can press 2 on the phone keypad, and this will
> take you to a screen with several items that you can
>
> arrow through such as your direction, speed, latitude, etc. One of the
items
> here is the GPS status, but it only tells you a
>
> percentage, such as 100 percent, 66 percent, etc. Obviously, 100 percent
is
> the best, but I really do think that Way Finder
>
> Access should provide the status information that Mobile Geo does, as it
is
> much more informative.
> The last area I want to cover is the price of each product. Since each
> product only works on one platform, you will need to
>
> purchase the appropriate product for that platform. Also, prices can
change,
> so the prices I'm mentioning here are not set in
>
> stone. I'm going to assume that you already have a phone and screen
reader,
> so these prices are just for the GPS
>
> functionality. At this time, Mobile Geo is $845 for the United States map
> coverage, and Way Finder Access is $280. Also, if your phone does not have
a
> built in GPS receiver, an external one is between $50 and $80. On the
>
> surface, it looks like Way Finder Access is quite a bit cheaper, but there
> is a bit more to it. Remember that with Way Finder
>
> Access, you need a data plan. You can choose to pay for data as you use
it,
> although depending on how much data you download,
>
> this can add up. The prices I'm going to give you here are for the
unlimited
> plans for the two GSM carriers in the United
>
> States. For AT&T, the media net plan is what you would need, and that is
$15
> a month. For t-mobile, it's $19.99 a month, So, if you are with AT&T, and
> purchase Way Finder Access and the data plan, after two years, you will
have
> spent $640. That's still less than the initial cost of Mobile Geo. For
> T-mobile, the
>
> price for Access and two years of the data plan would be $759.76, a bit
> closer to Geo's price, but still a bit less. The only
>
> way I could see the cost of Way Finder Access passing Mobile Geo's price
is
> if there is no charge to upgrade the software and
>
> the maps for a few years, and that may or may not happen. So, at this
point
> at least, Mobile Geo has a higher price.
> Well everyone, we have arrived at our destination, the end of this review.
> Thank you for taking the time to read this review
>
> and comparison, I do hope you have found it to be of value. I have tried
my
> best to compare the two GPS systems for mobile
>
> phones, and point out their advantages and disadvantages. I believe both
> products do a good job of making GPS accessible for
>
> blind people, and as time goes on, I hope both products will continue to
get
> better. I do think we should extend our thanks
>
> to all of these companies for working to make this technology accessible.
I
> was actually in an electronics store earlier
>
> today, and all of the mainstream GPS systems they had used touch screens.
> There is currently no way a blind person would be
>
> able to use one of these. Yet, thanks to the folks at Way Finder, Sendero
> and Code Factory, we are able to utilize this
>
> technology and get the same benefits from it that sighted people do. For
> that, I know myself and many other blind people say
>
> thank you!
> If you have any other questions or comments about this review, feel free
to
> email me, my address is n0oxy@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Again, thanks for reading, and happy traveling!
>
>
>
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