[Accessibility] Introduction and sneak peek

[Alex Jurgensen`]

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.
>
>
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> 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>
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