The Waymap app offers precise instructions to give blind pedestrians more options for safe travel.
“An app designed to help visually impaired or blind pedestrians use public transit will debut at a Washington subway station on Tuesday,” reports David Shepardson for Reuters. “The app does not use GPS and can operate regardless of cellphone signal strength indoors or outdoors. It loads detailed mapping data onto a smartphone and uses motion sensors on the phone to offer precise directions.”
“Mobility is not a luxury,” said Waymap founder and CEO Tom Pey, who is blind and argues other apps are not precise enough. “It is, in fact, a human right.”
According to the article, “Waymap will be deployed in phases with the goal of deploying the app at up to 30 Metro train stations and nearly 1,000 bus stops by September and across the entire Metro system by early 2023.”
In the future, Pey says people without visual impairments could use the app “to help refine directions and improve the maps” for blind users.
Read the full story: App to help blind people navigate public transit to debut in Washington
Mobile App Makes DC Transit Easy to Navigate for Visually Impaired Riders
The app gives step-by-step directions and audio and visual cues accessible from anywhere for thousands of bus stops and rail stations.
Making Trip Planning Easier for Vision-Impaired Transit Riders
The app provides navigation using audio and haptic cues to improve accessibility for people with low vision.
Braille Signage Now at All Vancouver Bus Stops
The city completed installation of signage for people with visual impairments at over 8,000 bus stops.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association