System Orients Blind and Sighted Pedestrians
From: Michigan Alumnus - Winter 2009 - page 42

A new Bluetooth system designed at U-M primarily for blind people places a
layer of information technology over the real world to tell pedestrians about
points of interest along their path as they pass them. 

For the sighted community, the Talking Points urban orientation system could
give passersby a peek at the sales inside a business or offer on-the-go
access to customer reviews. For blind pedestrians, it could do the same, but
it would also fill those gaps in knowledge, helping visually imapired people
find public restrooms, police stations, public transportation, and
restaurants with Braille menu, for example. 

"Blind people can get from point A to point B. They learn to count steps if
they have to, but they miss the journey because they don't always know what
they're passing," said James Knox, adaptive technology coordinator for the
University's Information Technology Central Services. "The idea behind
Talking Points is to enhance the journey. 

Similar systems exist, but Talking Points is the first know to use Bluetooth,
cater to both the sighted and the visually impaired, allow people to operate
it entirely with voice commands, and incorporate community-generated content
throught a Web site. 

Knox and collaborators in the School of Information and the Deaprtment of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science created an early version of
Talking Points years ago. A group of masters students and undergraduates has
given the project new energy. They shrunk the receiver and switched the
transmitting technology to Bluetooth. They are also exploring other
technologies such as GPS. 

Links:
Talking Points
http://talking-points.org/

New Bluetooth system orients blind and sighted pedestrians
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6737
http://www.ccnmag.com/article/new_bluetooth_system_orients_blind_and_sighted_pedestrians