New App Connects to FourSquare to help Guide the Blind

A new app is revolutionizing the way people who are blind navigate the streets. BlindSquare is a new app that takes the data from the 20 million+ users on Foursquare, along with Apple’s voiceover technology and has created a verbalized direction system to aide the blind as they navigate their neighborhood. The app also offers directions on demand.

The Finnish app creator, Ilkka Pirttimaa, told Mashable, “Basically it speaks what’s around you and if you want to go somewhere it will give guidance. When they travel on a bus, they don’t normally know where to get off. Now, they can hear surroundings and even street crossings when [the] bus is making a turn.”

The app was created in only about 6 months, which is pretty cool considering what it can do. It is mostly meant to help blind people who are in unfamiliar areas navigate them in an autonomous manner. The app is available now in the iTunes store and costs $14.99. They would have liked to offer it at a lower price, but the price will cover the cost of having the right to use Acapela’s speech synthesis technology. This program turns text into speech on various different devices.

The app is also language-friendly. It actually works with over 26 different languages.

 

popadminNew App Connects to FourSquare to help Guide the Blind