New app will help blind navigate MBTA rail system
The agency has helped fund the creation of PERCEPT — an indoor navigation system that one day will allow users to make their way through a rail station by listening to step-by-step directions on their smartphones, which lead them to electronic sensors or “tags” throughout the building.
BOSTON — A new app being developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is meant to help visually impaired people navigate Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rail stations on their own, The Boston Globe reported.
The MBTA has helped fund the creation of PERCEPT — an indoor navigation system that one day will allow users to make their way through a rail station by listening to step-by-step directions on their smartphones, which lead them to electronic sensors or “tags” throughout the building.
Testing of the system is ongoing, but it is hoped that the app could be ready for use in early 2015. Once approved by the MBTA, the app would be free to users. For the full story, click here.
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