VTT Introduces Unique, Human Voice-Based Guidance System for Mobile Phones
From: Innovations Report - 06/08/2004
By: Ari Virtanen

A voice-based guidance system for mobile phones that can be useful for both
visually impaired and clear-visioned consumers has been developed by
Finland's VTT Technical Research Center. The system remains in continuous
contact with public and real-time databases containing information that is
especially helpful to vision-disabled users, such as bus, tram, and train
routes and schedules, news and weather services, and roadwork-related data.
The device can help users plan excursions, direct them to public
transportation stations, tell them when a vehicle is arriving and at what
point they should disembark, and trace their route from the point of
departure to their destination. The system uses satellite positioning to help
a visually handicapped user store previously tested and certified walking
routes. The scheme employs mobile phone-based voice synthesis, as well as
analysis and identification of speech performed in the server computer. The
server carries out data searches using online textual data and multiple
databases, transmitting the results to the user's mobile phone. The guidance
system, which boasts a Finnish-only voice interface, is currently being
tested. Other kinds of users who could benefit from the VTT product in the
future include companies, associations, and individual consumers. 

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/communication_media/report-30060.html