A handheld GPS unit modified to provide audible and vibrating signals to the user might be a good piece of adaptive technology to assist the blind and deafblind.
In the article Using GPS as a Travel AideI described how Global Positioning Satellites (or Global Positioning Systems), "GPS" in other words, is a travel tool useful for navigation, documentation, and planning of a trip.
As it applies to accessibility, I see huge potential for GPS to help people be more independent.
For example, in the world of the blind and deafblind, audible and tactile aids to navigation are useful but scarce. Waiting for municipalities to install Braille signage and speaking location finders will take forever. However, as GPS and its sister technology, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) advance, they provide the potential for individuals to take things into their own hands.
Imagine if you could plot your route to and from work onto a handheld GPS unit. Then, as you walked along your way, the system could speak or vibrate if you were getting off course. Obviously that is a simplistic example, and perhaps an unnecessary one, since the work-home navigation is unlikely to be the most problematic. But what about plotting the way to a cinema, a new restaurant, or being able to find the way again after a detour?
The accuracy and reliability of GPS, especially in a city, is not 100 percent. Tall buildings and other objects can block out the signal from the satellites sometimes. However, I am still convinced that there is an application here worth developing. Maybe it already exists - the area of adaptive technology being as fast-moving as it is, I wouldn't be surprised.
