[nfbwatlk] Talking Signs in Seattle

[Frye, Dan]

I have some concerns about this prospect; I've been asked, though, to share this with you. The story follows:


Apparently, Seattle will get a contract to install many of these talking signs.  Baker, the Congressman regularly quoted here, is a good friend of ours though we have not be big backers of this project.  I personally think the need to carry a receiver is troublesome, and wonder who buys these things for the folks that would use them.  Having said that, the article is probably right that this technology could really move ahead now.  It got some support in the last transportation bill, and this Seattle project is a larger test run than I think it has received before.  I really have not heard from anyone who actually has used. it and would like to.
Jim McCarthy

-----Original Message-----
From: Brunhilde Merk-Adam [mailto:bkmabma at worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 8:51 AM
To: bkmabma at worldnet.att.net
Subject: BLIND VISION Tech Alert


BLIND VISION Tech Alert
2TheAdvocate.com, Louisiana
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Talking Signs slated to install high-tech units in Seattle

By GARY PERILLOUX, Advocate business writer

BR firm assists efforts for blind

A Baton Rouge technology business bent on eradicating barriers for the blind
has reached a breakthrough with federal approval of a $2 million contract.

In the four-year deal, Talking Signs will install high-tech signs on buses,
traffic signals and landmarks throughout Seattle, allowing visually impaired
pedestrians to pick up audio messages using an infrared receiver.

"For what we have going out the door, this is a very important development
because of the sponsorship by Congress," Talking Signs President C. Ward
Bond said.

Key backing came from U.S. Rep. Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, chief sponsor
of the pilot project in the 2005 federal transportation act.

"It's important for two differing reasons," Baker said. "One is the
development of the technology and the associated jobs that come with the
demand for the product. Second - and the more important issue - is making
accessible public transportation to those who are physically impaired and
otherwise would be challenged to navigate through public transportation
without this type of assistance."

Talking Signs partnered with Sound Transit of Seattle to win the $2 million
grant in a competitive process. The Seattle project beat applications from
Austin, Texas; Lansing, Mich.; Chicago; and Tampa, Fla.

Seattle already had installed Talking Signs in transit stations in the city,
giving it a head start over the competitors, Bond said. The new project will
provide seamless navigation for the blind for the first time on a regional
basis.

If the Federal Transit Authority brands the project as successful and
meaningful in three years, doors could be opened for much broader funding in
the next transportation bill, Baker said. That could mean substantial growth
for Talking Signs, which has operated on a shoestring budget for 13 years.

The venture rose from San Francisco's Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research
Institute. Bond teamed with researchers Bill Loughborough and Bill Crandall
to transfer technology from the institute to Talking Signs. Microcomputer
Systems of Baton Rouge designed the remote infrared audible signs from
concept to product, with Mitsubishi Precision as a lead manufacturer.

Talking Signs has more than 3,000 receivers deployed from Norway to Japan.
Whether the Baton Rouge firm evolves from a small business - Bond and vice
president Jeff Moyer comprise its full-time staff - into a breakout venture
depends on whether federal pilot funds lead to a mandate of Americans with
Disabilities Act proportions.

It depends also on whether additional commercial applications bear fruit.

Talking Signs simultaneously is developing PointLink, an infrared technology
that would allow users to point to signs and interpret them in foreign
languages and to point to icons and have them provide an immediate link to
Web sites about the landmark.

"That will be the drop-dead application in Silicon Valley. That's what they
would call it there," Bond said. "I think we're at a point where if the
right talent and money would come along, I think a substantial company could
be built here."

Talking Signs is scrutinizing spin-off possibilities for the PointLink
venture. Meanwhile, the company is linking with advocacy groups for the
blind and promoting a national movement for audio technology that's far more
powerful than Braille signs.

"I think eventually it will be the same as curb cuts (for wheelchairs),"
Bond said. "It's just too good, it's just too valuable."

Baker agrees.

"This is a very significant technology," he said. "Once this pilot is
deployed and it has acceptability with the traveling public, I fully expect
it to be deployed across the country. And the Baton Rouge community would be
the beneficiary of what I think is a rather grand opportunity."

Story originally published in The Advocate



http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/3767052.html


Daniel B. Frye
Manager of Affiliate Action Advocacy and Training
National Federation of the Blind
Department of Affiliate Action
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Telephone: (410) 659-9314 Ext. 2208
Cell: (410) 241-7006
Fax: (410) 659-6893
E-Mail: dfrye at nfb.org
Web Address: www.nfb.org
"Voice of the Nation's Blind"