[nfb-talk] Way-finding devices for buildings

[John Heim]

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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