By Nicholas Terry

An app. entitled ‘BlindSquare’, allows visually impaired users to roam freely without the fear of getting lost.  The app. (currently available on mobile devices) extracts information about the users surroundings from ‘Foursquare’ and ‘Open streetMap’ (both of which use GPS technology); it will then gather the most relevant information to the user and with a clear and audible voice, communicate it aloud.

Future Developments

‘BlindSquare’ was developed in Finland and may soon be used to update users who live in Helsinki (the capital city of Finland), as to when local buses will arrive, by integrating data from the cities Regional Transportation services.

Although this future addition to the app. is exclusive to Finland, ‘BlindSquare’ in its general form is accessible worldwide and is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Czech.

Features

Current user features include the following:

• Find nearest or most popular amenities within a certain radius (Post Offices, Cafes etc.)
• Shaking a device will audibly determine the users location and nearest junctions
• ‘BlindSquare’ allows the user to save their favourite location and notify them when they are nearby.
• Uses iCloud technology, to allow users more freedom to access saved information on ‘BlindSquare’ through multiple iOs devices.

Social Media

As well as acting as a useful, informative  and practical app., ‘BlindSquare’ can also be used in a more fun and social way, by setting the app. to share the users location (check-ins) on popular social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter.