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
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