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San Francisco Airport Testing Beacon System For Blind Travelers
An anonymous reader points out this pilot program in San Francisco to help blind passengers better navigate the airport. San Francisco Airport is testing out location-aware beacons to help visually-impaired people navigate around one of its newest terminals, a program it could roll out to the rest of the airport if successful. An early version of the system was shown off to press today for use on Apple iOS devices, though SFO also plans to make it available for Android users and eventually expand the system to serve up information for those who can see. The beacons are coming from an indoor positioning company Indoo.rs and have been installed throughout the terminal. Each beacon will connect to a smartphone app to pop up with information when a user gets within range. For the visually impaired, the system uses Apple's Voiceover technology to read out points of interest as they come on screen, though an early version of the app also gives people visual cues for how to navigate to locations from a directory that can be sorted. That means you could tell it to help you find the nearest power outlet to juice your gear, or the nearest coffee shops to recharge your body.
This sounds like a crazy giant advertising system, basically. I really doubt it's going to help the blind as much as it helps the bottom line of the businesses located in the airport.
Yes, being blind sucks. That's part of why we have the Americans with Disabilities Act. Investing capital on taking care of those less fortunate is what leads to a prosperous society for all.
Support a few technologists in Washington.
If you think any company would willingly help out anyone who is not buddies with the CEO out of the goodness of their black hearts you're being naive. This is about advertising, that it may end up helping the blind is an unintended consequence.
Out of curiosity, how do blind people use iOS or Android devices?
the beacons cost $20 each.
yes. resources are finite, but $20 per is not a lot.
am i the only one who thought they were testing a bacon system...
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
The winning argument from DHS/TSA will be that the system provides 4-dimensional maps of the 'Security Check Point Area' thus rendering the security check point area personal to Terrorists attack from U.S.A. citizens, the most hated terrorists of the DHS/TSA.
Welcome to the new normal at the "airports."
Ta ta
when the person using the beacon system is wearing a pilot's uniform...
From what they say, it seems like it is going to be a pretty rough implementation at first. How would the system deal with multiple beacons?
There is an Israeli research group doing research into using synthesizer timbres for navigation. I hope they collaborate.
I read that as bacon.
Just asking
Kind of surprised at the level of accessibility ignorance shown in some of these comments. Yes, blind people can use IPhones and Androids. We're not fucking primitives, and there are these things called screen readers. No, this is not a pointless waste of money. We're fucking people too, and there're these concepts called equality and universal access. Get with the program, please.
Sorry, but I didn't expect sightist condescention from here, of all places.
Anyway, airports are notoriously hard to navigate blind, so I'm glad there are solutions being tested out. Though I wonder if this won't be obsoleted by indoor GPS when it comes out.
Blind folks like bacon too ya jerks!
Yes, I know you're trolling, but I'm going to comment anyway.
My mom's not blind, but her vision's really lousy (age-related macular degeneration, like a lot of old people with serious vision problems.) She takes wheelchairs in the airport, which not only takes care of navigation, but also helps her deal with distance (she can do short distances herself, but has trouble with long distances or long standing.) As the Boomer generation gets old and decrepit, we're going to start doing the same.
Using technology instead of labor is what capital is for. The capital only gets wasted if these sensors are obsolete in a couple of years, and if we haven't learned any lessons about design or implementation from it.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Maybe a current Android phone is better, but my old one has helpful things like a microphone icon next to the keyboard that you can press and type by voice recognition instead of keyboard. Which I suppose is useful, after I put on my reading glasses to do texting or other apps in the first place. (I'm sorry, I want the equivalent of being able to tell Siri to do stuff without needing to look at the keyboard - how else am I going to text while driving\\\\\\\\ um, use the phone with limited vision? And my HTC's version of Android didn't even let me pick a font size for text messaging; HTC just knew I'd prefer to see more lines of conversation and wouldn't need to do the pinch thing to make the text bigger.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Where is the precedent for corporations caring about users/customers?
I thought so... I guess you'll be stopping moaning about beta soon then...?
Requiem for the American Dream
If others like you hadn't tried to opt out of providing you with a moral education, you wouldn't be asking this question.
Requiem for the American Dream
That means you could tell it to help you find the nearest power outlet to juice your gear, or the nearest coffee shops to recharge your body.
Or, you know, the way to your boarding gate. That may have been a slightly more pertinent example in this case.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Unfortunately it isn't enough to include any security features or useful information. These beacons use Bluetooth Low Energy which basically transmits and unauthenticated unique identifier. The device then looks the identifier up on the internet.
Anyone can easily fake the unique ID, effectively moving existing beacons around at will. The receiving device then has to look the ID up online, so unless the airport offers free wifi most travellers will either not have any internet access or be forced to use ultra expensive roaming. They could get around this issue with a dedicated app that has the data in it already, as long as they can resist giving it ridiculous permissions.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The restroom is to your left, 50 yards. And send blind people tumbling down flights of stairs! Brilliant!
This really seems like an over-hyped, massively expensive technical solution to a problem that could easily be fixed with some volunteer organizations providing guides on an as-needed basis. Here's a thought: require all public high school students to provide X number of hours (start with 200) of public service as a requirement for graduation. Do something similar with college students receiving Federal student aid. Oh look, suddenly volunteers everywhere! And these volunteers can actually adapt to the needs of individuals and don't cost a fortune to implement, update, and maintain!
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
If you need an app to pick up these beacons, then you can not be blind, or what? :-)
I guess the moderator has not heard that this was shown on television.
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So... you want a beacon system for gay travellers?
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
SFO is one of the worst offenders in the "poorly labeled airports" category. Even with good eyesight, it's a mess to navigate.
Perhaps they can learn something from this project, and use it on sighted users as well.
The receiving device then has to look the ID up online, so unless the airport offers free wifi most travellers will either not have any internet access or be forced to use ultra expensive roaming.
SFO offers free wifi.
the beacons cost $20 each.
yes. resources are finite, but $20 per is not a lot.
5$ (gimbal)
I remember that broadcast, I missed the "joke" and was thinking it didn't make sense because about same time in other media one mentioned a different set of names, another mentioned names of crew withheld pending investigation. At the time I was looking into how will it effect my flight into SJC (about 40 miles south) and also what caused such a simple landing to go wrong (maybe it is not that simple). But later I cringed thinking about the KTVU falling for bad information. Supposably, they called FAA to confirm but got someone who was taking messages for a FAA official who asked another person, etc. I guess pressure to be the first to get the news before someone else (I think it is better to be second or third place and be right instead of first place and be wrong).
mfwright@batnet.com