[nfb-talk] Way-finding devices for buildings

Tue Aug 24 09:15:34 UTC 2010

unfortunately, sighted people who need an item like this can't depend on the 
services of a guide dog. This type of device would be very helpful to many 
elderly people.
Chuck
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Heim" <jheim at math.wisc.edu>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Way-finding devices for buildings


> This is kind of OT but...
>
> I believe a dog's inner compass and map are better than a human's. I 
> happened to meet a person who specializes in brain biology here at the 
> University of Wisconsin. I mentioned that even though I think I have a 
> pretty good sense of direction, I think my guide dog has a way better one. 
> She said that although she wasn't aware of any research into it, she 
> wouldn't be surprised. There's no reason to think that the part of the 
> brain responsible for mapping your surroundings is more developed in a 
> human than in a dog. That part of the brain might be more developed in a 
> dog than in a human.
>
> I suspect it probably is because my guide dog has an unbelievable sense of 
> direction and ability to remember places. It would be easy to test. Get a 
> group of humans and a group of dogs to learn a maze.  A week later, see 
> which group remembers the maze better. Honestly, I'd bet on the dogs.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Michael Bullis" <mabullis at hotmail.com>
> To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 10:07 AM
> Subject: [nfb-talk] Way-finding devices for buildings
>
>
>> Many of us have talked about developing a device for way-finding that 
>> would,
>> for example, help us find our way back from a podium to our seat, or to 
>> some
>> location earlier visited in a building.
>>
>> Such a device would also be handy in a large field where one would like 
>> to
>> return to a starting point.
>>
>> The difficulty has been that gps simply doesn't provide enough 
>> specificity,
>> pretty much limited to an eleven foot area.  When finding a seat, 11 feet
>> isn't quite adequate.  The other issue is that gps doesn't work in tall
>> buildings.
>>
>>
>>
>> This article from Tech Review for 8/19 might provide a direction.  The 
>> nice
>> thing is that it's not for blind people so would have broader appeal and
>> lower cost in the long run.
>>
>>
>>
>>    Finding Our Way with Digital Bread Crumbs
>>
>>
>>
>>    A Microsoft research project explores whether sensors in mobile 
>> devices
>>
>>    could help us navigate without GPS.
>>
>>
>>
>>    By Evan I. Schwartz
>>
>>
>>
>>    In the classic tale by the Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel leave a
>>
>>    trail of bread crumbs from their home so as not to get lost in the
>>
>>    forest, but the plan fails when birds eat the crumbs. In the modern
>>
>>    world, a GPS device could assist the fabled siblings. But what if they
>>
>>    wandered into a place without GPS signals?
>>
>>
>>
>>    With that kind of problem in mind, a team of researchers at Microsoft
>>
>>    set out to create a mobile device that could forge a trail of "digital
>>
>>    bread crumbs." The device would collect the trail data while the user
>>
>>    walked indoors, underground, or in other spaces where GPS signals are
>>
>>    unavailable or weak--such as multilevel parking garages that can 
>> baffle
>>
>>    people who forget where they parked.
>>
>>
>>
>>    The resulting Microsoft Research device, a prototype phone called
>>
>>    Menlo, packs a suite of sensors: an accelerometer to detect movement, 
>> a
>>
>>    side-mounted compass to determine direction, and a barometric pressure
>>
>>    sensor to track changes in altitude.
>>
>>
>>
>>    While existing phones contain some of these sensors, what's new about
>>
>>    Menlo is an app called Greenfield, which aims to solve the Hansel and
>>
>>    Gretel problem by harnessing the data from the sensors. The goal is to
>>
>>    count a user's sequence of steps, gauge direction changes, and even
>>
>>    calculate how many floors the user has traversed by stairs or an
>>
>>    elevator. The app stores the trail data so that a user can later
>>
>>    retrace his path precisely.
>>
>>
>>
>>    The researchers call Greenfield an example of "activity-based
>>
>>    navigation." In a paper to be presented at the MobileHCI conference in
>>
>>    Lisbon, Portugal, next month, the Microsoft team positions Greenfield
>>
>>    as an ideal method of navigation in places where maps haven't been
>>
>>    constructed or aren't accessible. For the paper, [3]computer scientist
>>
>>    A.J. Brush and her team conducted a trial in which people had to
>>
>>    retrieve an object from a colleague's parked car in a large garage,
>>
>>    using the coworker's trail data to navigate the way.
>>
>>
>>
>>    "I knew this was possible, but I was wondering when someone would put
>>
>>    all the pieces together," says Jeff Fischbach, a forensic technologist
>>
>>    with [4]SecondWave Information Systems, a consulting firm in
>>
>>    Chatsworth, CA. Fischbach often serves as an expert witness in 
>> criminal
>>
>>    trials in which GPS data is used as evidence. He says that trail data
>>
>>    from an app like Greenfield could help determine whether a murder
>>
>>    suspect is truthfully stating an alibi. "This kind of data is terrific
>>
>>    for convicting people and terrific at exonerating people."
>>
>>
>>
>>    But since such trail data can be retrieved, transmitted to the
>>
>>    Internet, and even subpoenaed by the government, this raises the most
>>
>>    extreme sort of privacy issues. "How can you control who has access to
>>
>>    the data?" Fischbach says. And would employers use it to keep close
>>
>>    track of their workers?
>>
>>
>>
>>    The potential applications are numerous. Greenfield could be used for
>>
>>    new kinds of urban street games, to recover lost items, to find 
>> friends
>>
>>    at a stadium, or to rescue hikers and mountain climbers. The
>>
>>    researchers cite a 2002 book, [5]Inner Navigation, by engineer Erik
>>
>>    Jonnson, who argues that everyone struggles with creating "cognitive
>>
>>    maps." Even those who have an excellent sense of direction can be
>>
>>    tricked by their own recall, sometimes remembering landscapes in
>>
>>    precisely opposite layouts. "I think people have an inner compass,"
>>
>>    Jonnson says, "and when it goes wrong, the most amazing things 
>> happen."
>>
>>
>>
>>    In their test at two different parking garages--one with GPS signals
>>
>>    and one without--the Microsoft team started subjects in an adjacent
>>
>>    office building and handed each of them a piece of paper listing the
>>
>>    color, make, model, and license plate number of a colleague's car.
>>
>>    (This kind of problem was familiar to most of the study's 
>> participants;
>>
>>    one said that losing track of a car in a garage is "catastrophic.") 
>> The
>>
>>    subjects were given a Menlo device running Greenfield, which had
>>
>>    recorded an activity trail, for use in retracing the way back. In some
>>
>>    cases, the trail data was enhanced by photographs taken along the
>>
>>    route.
>>
>>
>>
>>    Every participant in the study found every car, at least eventually.
>>
>>    But since several configurations of bread-crumb data were tested, 
>> there
>>
>>    was wide variation in how long it took each subject, depending on what
>>
>>    kind of information was displayed. Even when they were told what 
>> garage
>>
>>    floor and quadrant the car was on, subjects often forgot and had to
>>
>>    rely on the device for direction.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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