Cell Phone-Based Service Made for Blind
By Hulden, Mans; Associated PressPublication Date: June 11, 2004
Article describes the Noppa project, which was under development by the Technical Research Center of Finland, a nonprofit, government-owned research organization. The project is being conducted to combine cellular phones, wireless Internet, global positioning, and voice technology to allow people who are blind or have low vision to move about freely in cities. The guidance system works with a third-generation cellular phone to tell users exactly where they are, how to get where they want to go, and how to navigate around obstacles in their path. The device is also hooked up to municipal databases that warn about road and sidewalk construction sites, and inform the user about train, streetcar, and bus delays. The project will undergo its first series of tests utilizing participants with disabilities in the fall of 2004.
Published by: Associated Press (Website:http://www.ap.org)
Link to text: http://www.aapd-dc.org/News/blind/cellphone.html
