Figure 1, SWOMA 2017 Logo showing a stick figure women with a cane, stick figure man with a dog guide, a compass with braille letters N, S, E, W, and Conference title of "Exploring Changing Times"

2017 SWOMA Conference

Region 4 ESC Houston, TX

October 20-21, 2017

Nearby Explorer

Presented by,

Keith Creasy,

Programmer and Technical Lead

American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.

1

Nearby Explorer: Exploring the World Around Me

Keith Creasy, Programmer and Technical Lead

American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.

Slide 1, NEARBY EXPLORER: Exploring the World Around Me

Keith Creasy

Programmer and Technical Lead

American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.

Slide 2, Resources

The July issue of APH News has an excellent article by Larry Skutchan regarding indoor positioning and orientation. See

For the complete Nearby Explorer Users’ Guide see

Slide 3, Introduction

When sighted people use a global positioning system (GPS), their main interests are getting guidance and/or guidance to a destination.

Blind users appreciate these features as well, but they generally desire more orientation queues than are available on commercial GPS apps.

Slide 4, Stay Oriented

Nearby Explorer provides continually updating distance and directional information to the nearest or selected location. You control the amount and detail.

  • Surrounding and approaching streets
  • Businesses
  • Institutions
  • Public facilities
  • Transit stops

Slide 5, Nearby Explorer Home Screen

Figure 2, Screen shot for Nearby Explorer’s home screen showing options the have buttons that can be switched on or off.

Slide 6, Customizable

Items on the home screen can be made to speak updates automatically, or they may be hidden completely.

Slide 7, Data Providers

Nearby Explorer gives you access to several sources for addresses and points of interest:

  • Onboard maps
  • Google Places
  • Foursquare
  • OpenStreetMap

Slide 8, Virtual Go To

Nearby Explorer lets you virtually move to any address or point of interest. It then allows you to Explore as if you were there. It is an excellent way to get oriented before you go.

Slide 9, Video Slide

Slide 10, Nearby Transit

Many cities now provide public feeds, providing the location of transit stops, routes, and schedules. Nearby Explorer uses these feeds to:

  • Use GeoBeam and nearby places to track the distance and direction to transit stops
  • View schedules
  • Follow routes

Slide 11, Watch and Turn-by-turn Directions

  • Watch allows you to monitor the distance and direction to a specific point of interest.
  • You may also get turn-by-turn guidance to any address, point of interest, or transit stop.
  • Note: Paul has just gotten off the bus and can tell you more.

Slide 12, Video Slide

Slide 13, Nearby GeoBeam

  • Since Nearby Explorer knows both your current location and the location of places around you, it is possible to use the phone's compass and accelerometer to point at places and receive feedback about them.
  • The feedback consists of a vibration, a tone, and an announcement with the name and distance of the place.
  • Focusing your VO cursor on the nearby item also interactively shows the distance and name on a connected refreshable braille display.

Slide 14, Video Slide

Slide 15, Indoor Explorer

  • Accurate indoor location capabilities are the next frontier in mobility apps for people who are blind or visually impaired.
  • Even after decades of improvements, GPS reception is still obstructed without a clear view of the sky. Industry experts predict better indoor coverage, but it has been slow coming.
  • Alternative sources of location information include numerous technologies, but each has its weaknesses. Ultimately, precise location information will use a combination of technologies.

Slide 16, Indoor Explorer

Indoor Explorer, an upcoming function of APHísNearby Explorer app, will allow detailed navigation within buildings that have been mapped and equipped with beacons.

Slide 17, Video Slide

Slide 18, Beacons for Indoor Location

One method of determining oneís place indoors includes the use of beacons that periodically transmit small bursts of data.

If an app watches for those transmissions, it can correlate that beaconís identification with information about its precise location.

Slide 19, Acquiring Location

The app uses this information along with the signal strength of the beacon and other beacons that may be in the vicinity to help determine the userís location.

Once the app has a location, it can access the traditional points of interest (POIs) just as it does with outdoor features.

Slide 20, Video Slide

Slide 21

Small beacons, often placed above doorways, help Indoor Explorer guide you through a building.

Figure 3, Photo of a yellow colored beacon; this beacon is an oblong shape like an egg or an oval stone.

Slide 22, Image slide

Figure 4, Image of a building floor plan with beacons represented in various locations around the building. There is also a side area showing a beacon connecting to a smart phone that a silhouetted figure is holding. At the bottom of the image is a text box titled Indoor Explorer and includes the following bullet points: Beacons are strategically placed on walls and their location is mapped. Beacons signals its location to user’s phone. The app gathers information about the indoor environment from OpenStreetMap®. The app compares the beacon’s location and signal strength with the map to determine the user’s location and local points of interest (POIs).

Slide 23, How Beacons Work

Use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology.

Emit small bursts of data, called ìadvertisements,î several times a second that are picked up by devices that are BLE capable.

Advertisements generally just contain the ID of the beacon.

The ID can then be used to look up additional information in a database, such as OSM.

The signal strength provides an estimate of the proximity to the beacon.

Slide 24, Beacon Limitations

Beacons must be installed and configured for every venue.

Beacon signal strength can sometimes be erratic due to reflection and attenuation.

Slide 25, Helpful and Useful

  • In spite of these limitations, beacons provide helpful information to blind travelers.
  • The technology can improve, and other methods may be employed in addition to beacons to assist in accurate indoor location.

Slide 26, Mapping

  • Another barrier is the necessity of mapping and installing beacons in every venue.
  • Floor plans acquired and mapped with global coordinates.
  • POI’s tagged in indoor spaces.
  • Beacons placed on site
  • Beacons need occasional maintenance

Slide 27, OpenStreetMap

  • OpenStreetMap is an online map platform.
  • Designed to be edited by the community
  • Open and free access
  • Includes support for beacon placement and indoor points of interest

Slide 28, The Process

  • Acquiring a floor plan.
  • Match the floorplan with satellite imagery for precise global positioning.
  • Add the map to OSM.
  • Define indoor points of interest.
  • Define placement of beacons.
  • Configure and place beacons on location.

Slide 29, Open Collaboration

  • APH plans to develop and document the process, and if necessary, develop tools and make these available for anyone to use.
  • All that is required is a lot of work. We are committed to open standards and open collaboration.

Slide 30, Progress

Thus far, APH has mapped and deployed beacons at:

  • The APH facility
  • Crescent Hill branch of the Louisville Free Public Library
  • Louis Lab, a center for innovation in Louisville
  • Windham Grand Pittsburg

Slide 31, Future Venues

We have agreements with a number of key public venues in the Louisville area:

  • Louisville International Airport
  • Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center
  • Commonwealth Convention Center
  • Hyatt Regency Louisville Downtown
  • Visually Impaired Preschoolers Center
  • Kentucky Center for the Arts
  • Kroger

Slide 32, Civic Data Alliance

  • APH works closely with the Civic Data Alliance and plans to hold hackathons to speed up the mapping of civic buildings in the Metro Louisville area.
  • This collaboration is aimed at expanding this work beyond the Louisville area, hopefully to become an international standard.

Slide 33, Multi-purpose

Because both the maps and beacon data are in an open database, they may be used for multiple purposes.

  • Providing accessible self-guided tours
  • Public information and advertising.
  • All that is required is an app that tracks the beacons and associated maps.

Slide 34, Open Library or SDK

APH plans to develop an open library or SDK intended to make integration with OSM maps and data easier.

Slide 35, Nearby Explorer Indoor

APH recently released a new version of Nearby Explorer for iOS that includes the Indoor Explorer features. The feature is currently intended for testing purposes and has only been deployed at a few locations. As more venues are mapped and added to OpenStreetMap, it will be useful to more people.

  • GeoBeam works indoors using beacon signals and indoor points of interest taken from OSM.
  • Virtual go-to may be used for exploring indoor spaces remotely, including floor-by-floor.
  • Nearby indoor places are announced as one comes within close proximity.
  • The current level, or floor, of the building is tracked and updated automatically.
  • Switching between outdoor and indoor mode is seamless and automatic.

Slide 36, Availability

Those who already have Nearby Explorer simply need to update the app. Those who wish to purchase it can find it in the Apple App Store. Future plans include creating a free version of Nearby Explorer that includes indoor features.

Slide 37, Other Projects

There are several other projects that are doing work on apps for indoor location and navigation. A few that are noteworthy include:

  • Blind Square
  • Right Hear
  • Loud Steps
  • Click and Go
  • Wayfinder
  • PerCept Wayfinding

2017 SWOMA – Nearby Explorer, Creasy, K. 1

SWOMA Sponsors

Region 4 Education Service Center (ESC), Houston

Figure 15, Region 4, ESC logo.

Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Outreach Programs, Austin, TX

Figure 16, TSBVI logo.

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