[gui-talk] Fwd: Article: GPS For Blind "Not a Gimmick"

[slery]

I am all for GPS navigation but this feels more like custodialism.  The
blind person needs someone to hold their hand to get some where?  They have
to have a live person watch where they are going in order to get there?  The
blind person is going to be so sick they can't remember where the pharmacy
is?  What about the sighted person that is to sick to be driving to the
pharmacy they can see but insist on putting others in harms way because they
are too sick to be navigating their car?

Sorry, this article just really brings up my hackles.

Cindy

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
Behalf Of Steve Pattison
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 6:17 AM
To: GUI Talk; Access-L
Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: Article: GPS For Blind "Not a Gimmick"



>From: Susan Thompson susan at sthompson.net
>To: vip-l at softspeak.com.au
>
>Sat-nav for blind 'not a gimmick'
>By Malcolm Moore in Rome
>Last Updated: 7:11am GMT 19/12/2006
>
>Blind residents of Turin have been equipped with GPS trackers so that they
>can be directed around the northern Italian city by satellite.
>
>When wearing the device, a blind user can be tracked by call-centre workers
>on a map of the city. If he needs help, he can press a special button on a
>mobile phone to ring in and be guided towards his destination.
>
>Another button can alert staff in case of an attack, or another emergency.
>
>The trial scheme, named Easy Walk, started last week.
>
>It will be extended to 30 users in January and is expected to last three to
>four months before being rolled out to all of Piedmont's 3,000 blind
people.
>
>It will be free to users, but its cost to the regional government has not
>been revealed. The service runs 24 hours a day and can work across Italy
and
>even France.
>
>Federico Borgna, one of those involved in the trial, said his device had
not
>so far given him any of the directional headaches that satellite navigation
>is notorious for.
>
>"At first, the level of precision was dramatically off, but they have
worked
>hard to correct it. The best thing about the service is the call-centre,
>because the person gives me instructions and then watches me as I go," he
>said.
>
>Mercedes Bresso, who came up with the idea and who is also the head of the
>regional government, said the initiative was not "a gimmick," but "the
start
>of a wider project to use new technologies to help people.
>
>A blind person might not feel well and forget where the nearest pharmacy
is.
>This service will solve that, and give them more autonomy."
>
>The head of the Blind Association of Piedmont, Angelo Dalbano, said having
a
>GPS tracker would give blind people the confidence to travel to new places.
>
>malcolm.moore at telegraph.co.uk

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Skype:  steve1963
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
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