It goes without saying that being blind can be a major inconvenience, especially when navigating place, and doubly so when it’s a place you’ve never been to. The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is introducing a new pilot program in 2014 which it hopes will assist the blind in their navigation throughout the terminal.
The navigation assistance program will utilize beacon technology to help the blind. The beacons are actually minute sensors that will be observing Terminal 2, one of SFO’s newest terminals. Not much else is known about how the program will work, but should the test, which will begin later this fall, prove it to be an effective method of guiding the blind, it could be expanded to other terminals in the airport in the near future.
SFO will be working alongside Indoo.rs, an Austria-based indoor positioning and technology company, as well the Lighthouse for the Blind. The beacons will cost about $20 each to install, and will utilize Bluetooth to stay connected, synchronizing with a special smartphone app that users will be able to refer to any time they want. Over 300 beacons have already been installed, and are expected to last about four years.
Read more about the story at Mashable.
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