[Njtechdiv] Exciting iPhone App

[Mario]

MD Support’s LowViz Guide Offers Gift of Sight

For four days, Bill DeMaio could see through walls. And that’s really 
saying something, considering that he has no eyesight. Until May 10, 
2015, Bill could find his way around an unfamiliar building only by 
either asking people for directions or hoping to find Braille signs. But 
then, on the first day of the 2015 National ADA Symposium, he was given 
an extraordinary gift of sight.

Bill was the first person to use a new wayfinding application called 
LowViz Guide, created specifically for visually impaired attendees at 
state and national conferences. On the first day of the event, he stood 
with his guide dog, Izaac, in the middle of the Hyatt Regency Atlanta 
hotel’s pre-conference area. Neither of them had ever set foot or paw in 
that room before, but after simply listening to his iPhone for a minute 
or so, Bill was amazed that he could describe and give directions to 
meeting rooms, restrooms, vendor booths, and other unique points of 
interest in the entire conference area, even those that were beyond 
normal sight.

Once he realized that he was now on equal or better par with the 
fully-sighted attendees, he decided to sign in. Turning toward the 
registration table
50 feet away and around the corner, he guided Izaac to the exact 
location. That’s right, Bill guided Izaac, whose look of canine 
bewilderment was matched only by the big smile on his owner’s face.

LowViz Guide is the latest embodiment of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 
beacon technology, popping up in public venues all over the world. It is 
similar to GPS, but it is useable indoors, where access to satellites, 
Internet, and cell service may not be available. With a smart phone or 
tablet, the user can call up a map and routing information on the 
screen, no matter where he or she is standing in the venue. And now, in 
combination with the phone’s speech capability, that information is also 
available audibly for blind and low vision people.

In July of 2014, Liz Trauernicht, director of MD Foundation, saw the 
need for a guided assistance program at low vision conferences, so she 
asked her resource consultant, Dan Roberts, if he could research the 
possibilities. Along with his duties as founding director of MD Support 
and Editor-in-Chief of Prevent Blindness’ Living Well With Low Vision 
section, Roberts accepted the challenge. He decided that BLE technology 
was the answer, so he contracted Indoo.rs, a wayfinding technology 
company based in Vienna, to design the LowViz Guide app to his 
specifications.

After months of development, the product was launched to rave reviews at 
the Atlanta conference. And, with ongoing funding from MD Foundation, MD 
Support is providing it free-of-charge to five more conventions through 
October. Future participating organizations are American Council of the 
Blind, Association for Blinded Veterans, Guide Dogs For The Blind, 
California Council of the Blind, and Pennsylvania Council of the Blind.

For information about LowViz Guide and how to request it for events, visit
www.mdsupport.org/audioguide.