[blindlaw] Recommendations for Court

Wed May 2 20:46:11 UTC 2018

Please take all of this with a grain of salt since I am by no means an expert. There are a couple of competing platforms in this space but the Bluetooth beacons themselves run about $20 each or less. THe trick is that you have to precisely map their locations and then account for anomalies caused by the environment. I’m guessing the venues you tried the technology in just slapped the beacons on wherever seemed natural and then called it a day, or they adopted a solution that integrated the beacon into something else that could not be relocated to account for interference, like lightbulbs. Using triangulation and other methods for dealing with interference, the solution might actually call for more beacons rather than less, for instance, putting them in the corners of every room. When deployed in adequate numbers and properly tuned, vendors claim reliable accuracy down to 1 meter and theoretical accuracy in the tens of centimeters.

Respectfully,
Aser Tolentino, Esq.

> On May 2, 2018, at 13:00, Tai Tomasi via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Aser,
> 
> Are you talking about Apple iBeacons or another system? Can you educate me regarding the cost of each navigation beacon? 
> 
> As for practicality, I am not sure such indoor beacons would help, at least not in the courthouses I frequent. I have experience with such navigation beacons in museums, and they were only slightly helpful due to the close proximity of the beacons. I found that multiple beacons were communicating with my phone at the same time, letting me know they were close by. The problem was that the notification wasn't enough to identify the actual location of the beacon. In my experience, beacons are not directional, meaning that neither your phone nor the beacon seemed able to provide accurate information about which way to turn. In other words, they are not like GPS systems that can give you directional information. In my local courthouses, the courtrooms are so close together that multiple beacons would be sending notifications to my phone, meaning it would still be necessary to ask for assistance or look for tactile wall signage. Although I am an early adopter of technology and use it wherever possible, it isn't always the best substitute for simply asking or looking for tactile signage. I find the ability to read raised standard print very helpful in these situations. Just my first thoughts on the subject.
> 
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Aser Tolentino via BlindLaw
> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2018 2:50 PM
> To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Aser Tolentino <agtolentino at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Recommendations for Court
> 
> Good afternoon,
> 
> Do people think deployment of indoor navigation beacons in courthouses would improve your ability to independently find the right courtroom with less fuss?
> 
> Respectfully,
> Aser Tolentino, Esq.
> 
>> On May 2, 2018, at 12:23, Howard Adelsberg via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Dear all, I have been asked by the NYS Office of Court Administration 
>> to seek input from attorneys that are either blind or have vision 
>> impairment for recommendations on how the Court may  help or  assist 
>> us  in all aspects. Even if you are not admitted to NY, your input 
>> would be appreciated .-Howard M. Adelsberg 
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