[Accessibility] Accessibility Digest, Vol 9, Issue 9

Thu Apr 1 22:01:01 BST 2010

Nolan and Alex,
I'd be very interested in being part of the conversation as well.  Our research group developed what is essentially a public transportation navigation application (i.e. the Travel Assistance Device (TAD)) that tells a person when to get off the bus using the GPS embedded in the phone, and we'd like to learn how we can make the application more friendly for individuals with visual impairments.  A few articles on TAD are here, if you're interested:
http://www.locationaware.usf.edu/research-and-development/travel-assistance-device/tad-in-the-news/

Currently our software is a Java Micro Edition application for Java-enabled cell phones, but we're looking to expand to Android.

We're also interested in expanding to pedestrian navigation as well, so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Nolan,
Are you using the W3C GeoLocation API for location info?
http://dev.w3.org/geo/api/spec-source.html

If so, I believe this is supported by most recent Blackberries:
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/developers/deliverables/11844/Support_for_Gears_APIs_738961_11.jsp

And it is definitely supported by all Android devices version 2.0 and higher:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.0-highlights.html

I think some of the AJAX might be what gives you trouble.  Based on my experience (mostly in mobile apps, not web programming), usually if something works on a desktop it doesn't work on a mobile without some tweaking.  I tried to load the site from a HTC Hero with Android that I have, but the site was down when I tried.  I'll try again later when its back up.

Sean

Sean J. Barbeau, M.S.
Research Associate
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, CUT100
Tampa, FL 33620-5375
813.974.7208
813.974.5168 (fax)
barbeau at cutr.usf.edu
http://www.cutr.usf.edu

USF Location-Aware Information Systems Lab:
http://www.locationaware.usf.edu/

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Introduction and sneak peek (Alex Jurgensen`)
   2. Re: Introduction and sneak peek (Nolan Darilek)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:48:24 -0700
From: "Alex Jurgensen`" <asquared21 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Accessibility] Introduction and sneak peek
To: Accessibility <accessibility at openstreetmap.org>
Message-ID:
        <473c13d61003260848s4b90bd9bw9163b0e456c922ea at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi,

I am working on a very, very similar project.

Can we talk off-list about this project? I have some ideas for GPS,
but I would be interested to hear your input.

Regards,
Alex,

On 3/25/10, Nolan Darilek <nolan at thewordnerd.info> wrote:
> Hello. I wanted to drop a quick note to introduce myself, and to mention
> a project I'd appreciate feedback on before I blog/tweet about it.
>
> I'm blind, and have used accessible GPS for the past four years or so.
> While I like the concept, everything out there is too expensive, fairly
> niche or just isn't that good. I thought that I could do better and,
> while it's been a long road with many rewrites, I think that I finally
> have a good start.
>
> I've called the project Hermes because he's the deity of lots of cool
> travel-related concepts, and I wanted a name that would capture the
> notion that accessible GPS is as much about fun and adventure as it is
> about mundane things. The architecture makes lots of the map import and
> description code available as a GUI-agnostic core, atop which any number
> of apps can be developed.
>
> To that end I've been focusing on Hermes Mobile, the web-based
> front-end. It uses the geolocation support available in most modern
> browsers and a bunch of accessible AJAX to present what I think is a
> nice map-browsing experience. My intent is to design something that can
> run on phones and other internet-connected devices. I haven't actually
> tested it in the field yet, but I've performed searches and browsed lots
> of locations from my desktop, so in theory it should work live, though I
> haven't optimized it for this use case yet.
>
> I've put up a demo instance for folks to play with. You can find it at
> http://thewordnerd.homeip.net, with a few caveats:
>
> * I live in Texas, and only have the TX map loaded. You can still
> experiment with it from outside of TX, just enter a TX address or city
> into the search field (I.e. "Austin, TX".) Austin seems to have more
> thorough POI coverage than other TX cities I've tried.
> * It's running on my desktop, so if it gets too much use then I may have
> to pull it.
> * It may occasionally be down. I bounce it daily to relaunch the newest
> version with whatever changes I've implemented that day. If this happens
> then your session will be cleared and you'll have to start browsing
> again once it's back up.
>
> Just visit the above website and optionally authorize your browser to
> share your location if given the choice. Type addresses, cities or lat,
> lon pairs into the search box to select a starting location. To initiate
> the search, tab away from the box and the area which formerly displayed
> nearby nodes switches to search results. If you decide not to visit any
> of these, simply clear the search field, tab away again and the nearby
> nodes reappear. When you're on the map, the area on the left displays
> nearby nodes with distance and bearing where possible, and if you're on
> a street, buttons near the bottom move you to adjacent intersections.
> You can either browse linearly along the road network, or non-linearly
> by selecting points. To select a node from the list on the left, either
> arrow to it or select it with the mouse then tab or mouse away. If you
> do a search and aren't located on a road initially, you'll have to
> select a node on the left to move anywhere.
>
> Distances are metric by default, but if you prefer imperial units then
> click the "KPH" popup where speed is displayed and change it to MPH.
> This globally changes the measurement system for the duration of your
> session.
>
> I have lots of plans for this. More immediately I want to add augmented
> reality features so you can do things like attach notes to locations and
> have those displayed when you get within a configurable range--great for
> remembering which door is the one to your favorite restaurant or store,
> or for documenting button layouts on laundry or vending machines. I'm
> also pondering social network integration. Maybe you need to find a bus
> stop but can't find a pedestrian to ask. In these instances, simply snap
> a picture of where you are and post a link to that plus Google and OSM
> views of the area to Twitter and Facebook. Your friends and followers
> simply visit a page in the app, answer your posted question and their
> responses appear in your mobile browser.
>
> Both the core and the web app code are GPL, though I haven't yet set up
> the hosting infrastructure to make the code available. If there's
> developer interest, though, then I may be inspired to do so sooner
> rather than later. :) Everything's written in Scala using LibOSM for the
> mapping and Lift as the web framework.
>
> Anyhow, I'm very interested in feedback. I'm also curious as to how well
> the site works on accessible iPhones/iPod Touches. I tested it briefly
> on Safari under OS X 10.5 but it failed spectacularly, and I'm guessing
> this means that the iPhone is out, and other research I've done suggests
> that Mobile Safari doesn't support geolocation APIs, meaning selecting a
> start location is purely search-driven right now. Hopefully Apple will
> get with the program re: ARIA and other accessibility standards, because
> it works quite well under Firefox and Orca. I don't know how it looks
> visually, but I've tried to design a layout that makes sense and looks
> tolerable. :)
>
> Have a great day.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Accessibility mailing list
> Accessibility at openstreetmap.org
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/accessibility
>

--
Alex A.AWEBSIGHT administrator
AWEBSIGHT web team
"Blindness is a gift, not a disability."
B.C unit
<ASquared21 at gmail.com>
http://www.VisionMail.uni.cc/

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:58:51 -0500
From: Nolan Darilek <nolan at thewordnerd.info>
Subject: Re: [Accessibility] Introduction and sneak peek
To: Accessibility <accessibility at openstreetmap.org>
Message-ID: <4BACD9BB.6000209 at thewordnerd.info>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Sure, drop me a note. Would love to work with others on this or similar
projects.

On 03/26/2010 10:48 AM, Alex Jurgensen` wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am working on a very, very similar project.
>
> Can we talk off-list about this project? I have some ideas for GPS,
> but I would be interested to hear your input.
>
> Regards,
> Alex,
>
>
>
> On 3/25/10, Nolan Darilek<nolan at thewordnerd.info>  wrote:
>
>> Hello. I wanted to drop a quick note to introduce myself, and to mention
>> a project I'd appreciate feedback on before I blog/tweet about it.
>>
>> I'm blind, and have used accessible GPS for the past four years or so.
>> While I like the concept, everything out there is too expensive, fairly
>> niche or just isn't that good. I thought that I could do better and,
>> while it's been a long road with many rewrites, I think that I finally
>> have a good start.
>>
>> I've called the project Hermes because he's the deity of lots of cool
>> travel-related concepts, and I wanted a name that would capture the
>> notion that accessible GPS is as much about fun and adventure as it is
>> about mundane things. The architecture makes lots of the map import and
>> description code available as a GUI-agnostic core, atop which any number
>> of apps can be developed.
>>
>> To that end I've been focusing on Hermes Mobile, the web-based
>> front-end. It uses the geolocation support available in most modern
>> browsers and a bunch of accessible AJAX to present what I think is a
>> nice map-browsing experience. My intent is to design something that can
>> run on phones and other internet-connected devices. I haven't actually
>> tested it in the field yet, but I've performed searches and browsed lots
>> of locations from my desktop, so in theory it should work live, though I
>> haven't optimized it for this use case yet.
>>
>> I've put up a demo instance for folks to play with. You can find it at
>> http://thewordnerd.homeip.net, with a few caveats:
>>
>> * I live in Texas, and only have the TX map loaded. You can still
>> experiment with it from outside of TX, just enter a TX address or city
>> into the search field (I.e. "Austin, TX".) Austin seems to have more
>> thorough POI coverage than other TX cities I've tried.
>> * It's running on my desktop, so if it gets too much use then I may have
>> to pull it.
>> * It may occasionally be down. I bounce it daily to relaunch the newest
>> version with whatever changes I've implemented that day. If this happens
>> then your session will be cleared and you'll have to start browsing
>> again once it's back up.
>>
>> Just visit the above website and optionally authorize your browser to
>> share your location if given the choice. Type addresses, cities or lat,
>> lon pairs into the search box to select a starting location. To initiate
>> the search, tab away from the box and the area which formerly displayed
>> nearby nodes switches to search results. If you decide not to visit any
>> of these, simply clear the search field, tab away again and the nearby
>> nodes reappear. When you're on the map, the area on the left displays
>> nearby nodes with distance and bearing where possible, and if you're on
>> a street, buttons near the bottom move you to adjacent intersections.
>> You can either browse linearly along the road network, or non-linearly
>> by selecting points. To select a node from the list on the left, either
>> arrow to it or select it with the mouse then tab or mouse away. If you
>> do a search and aren't located on a road initially, you'll have to
>> select a node on the left to move anywhere.
>>
>> Distances are metric by default, but if you prefer imperial units then
>> click the "KPH" popup where speed is displayed and change it to MPH.
>> This globally changes the measurement system for the duration of your
>> session.
>>
>> I have lots of plans for this. More immediately I want to add augmented
>> reality features so you can do things like attach notes to locations and
>> have those displayed when you get within a configurable range--great for
>> remembering which door is the one to your favorite restaurant or store,
>> or for documenting button layouts on laundry or vending machines. I'm
>> also pondering social network integration. Maybe you need to find a bus
>> stop but can't find a pedestrian to ask. In these instances, simply snap
>> a picture of where you are and post a link to that plus Google and OSM
>> views of the area to Twitter and Facebook. Your friends and followers
>> simply visit a page in the app, answer your posted question and their
>> responses appear in your mobile browser.
>>
>> Both the core and the web app code are GPL, though I haven't yet set up
>> the hosting infrastructure to make the code available. If there's
>> developer interest, though, then I may be inspired to do so sooner
>> rather than later. :) Everything's written in Scala using LibOSM for the
>> mapping and Lift as the web framework.
>>
>> Anyhow, I'm very interested in feedback. I'm also curious as to how well
>> the site works on accessible iPhones/iPod Touches. I tested it briefly
>> on Safari under OS X 10.5 but it failed spectacularly, and I'm guessing
>> this means that the iPhone is out, and other research I've done suggests
>> that Mobile Safari doesn't support geolocation APIs, meaning selecting a
>> start location is purely search-driven right now. Hopefully Apple will
>> get with the program re: ARIA and other accessibility standards, because
>> it works quite well under Firefox and Orca. I don't know how it looks
>> visually, but I've tried to design a layout that makes sense and looks
>> tolerable. :)
>>
>> Have a great day.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Accessibility mailing list
>> Accessibility at openstreetmap.org
>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/accessibility
>>
>>
>
>

------------------------------

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End of Accessibility Digest, Vol 9, Issue 9
*******************************************