[nfbcs] Google Maps and accessibility

[nancy coffman]

NFB had to put Lincoln busses on Newsline for the same reasons.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 9:13 AM
To: NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Google Maps and accessibility

Thanks Joe.  That's very informative.  So if I had an IPhone, I could have
the same access to GPS info as my sighted colleagues?

Is the bus info part of Google Maps, or part of GPS?  If it's part of
Google Maps, could I access it from my PC before I leave home?
Right now, I can't even access the bus schedules in a meaningful way from
my PC, because they are PDF docs, in column format, and it's just too hard
to figure out whith column goes with which header.
What I'd like is something that would tell me, without too much fuss, what
bus I could take, where the stop is, and what time the bus comes, in
theory.  The only way I know to get this info now is to call bus info and
wait on hold, but bus info is only available during the day.
Tracy

> This is a feature of the Android system.  You can download Google Maps to
> your Windows Mobile phone, but it only provides directions, not location
> identification or GPS guidance.  From my experience, Mobile Speak was not
> accessible with Google Maps on a WM 6.5 phone.  Any of the phones running
> Android 1.6 or better should have Google Maps with Navigation, though the
> accessibility there is equally disappointing.  So far as I know, the
> iPhone
> is the only device that provides an alternative GPS accessible
> application.
>
> Joe
>


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