Help with travel planning and getting around
Long-term member of the HSP community, Jason Jones from Wollongong, has been involved in the development of a mobile phone app using location-based technology in Google Maps.
The app helps wheelchair users find the best travel routes based on the person’s ability in using a wheelchair.
Here is the story from the SYDNEY.NEWS:
“Four out of five wheelchair users had not been anywhere new in the last year, and the main reason was the unreliability of accessibility information”
A mobile phone app that helps wheelchair users find the best routes to travel based on their ability is being developed by researchers at Wollongong.
In an Australian first, researchers have developed the application that shows wheelchair users the best routes to travel around the University of Wollongong campus.
They say the Navability app could revolutionise the way wheelchair users get around.
Jason Jones, who has struggled with hereditary spastic paraplegia for the past two decades, has helped to develop the program
Since 2014 the 45-year-old’s condition has progressively worsened, forcing him to use a wheelchair.
Mr Jones said the app would make a huge difference to the everyday lives of people with a disability, making it easier for them to get around and socialise.
“This month I went to a Sydney McDonald’s and this one had stairs going into it. How does a person in a wheelchair get there?” he said.
“Now I can log places that aren’t accessible and people will know not to go there.”
A more accessible world for wheelchair users
The brainchild of Briometrix, the app aims to make moving around easier and safer for people with a disability by translating wheelchair user generated data into navigation routes.
The app uses location-based technology in Google Maps and monitors exercise, to create routes based on a person’s ability to propel and manoeuvre a wheelchair.
“Measuring the actual effort that somebody takes to push a wheelchair, it starts to measure combining all of those parameters,” University of Wollongong associate professor Robert Gorkin said.
Read the full article …
Google Maps-Inspired App could Revolutionise the way Wheelchair Users Get Around
11 December 2017