Dec 15 2007
navigation
It’s not the pathfinding that is the hardest, but the navigating. Such as, I need to get to someone’s office in a location where I haven’t been much before. What I need are directions. Fortunately GPS and navigational tools are now included with high end Nokia cellphones (mainly, although a few smartphones have GPS too), so I set out to make my Nokia N95 into an even more useful tool. The N95 has basic voice capabilities, called VoiceAid, but this only allows you to operate basic functionalities. A full mobile screenreader is a different beast altogether: I opted for NuanceTALKS because it seemed to be the best code (works with the S60 operating system, so its use is limited to a small number of phones). Nuance also offer Wayfinder Access, a GPS navigation package that works symbiotically with TALKS. Seems like an excellent combination. Also interesting is Loadstone GPS wich is an open source project, that is a mixture of GPS Navigation tool and social networking initiative. The special thing about Loadstone is that its waypoint information is community based: the community of Loadstone users shares its Points information. Of course this is a great idea in theory, but such an approach requires critical mass to function really well. As of today, my own country is not represented in Loadstone’s Points repository, so its practical use is severely limited. So, I think I’ll go for Wayfinder Access, but Loadstone will be interesting to follow as it develops and grows. If you want to donate to the the project, you can do that here.