The Sendero Group, developers of the Seeing Eye GPS app and other accessible GPS products has, in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People, just launched a fully-featured turn-by-turn GPS app for users in the United Kingdom.
The app, called RNIB Navigator, was developed in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Sendero’s RNIB Navigator webpage lists the main features of RNIB Navigator as follows:
- Instead of multiple layers of menus, the three important navigation elements are on the lower portion of every screen: Route, POIs and Location.
- At intersections, the cross street and its orientation are announced.
- Intersections are described (e.g. four-way) with the clock face orientation of the streets.
- POI data is provided by Foursquare and TomTom.
- Directions are configured appropriately for Pedestrian and Vehicle routes, including heads-up announcements for approaching turns, turn now, continue straight and upcoming turns.
- If one wanders off the route, it's automatically recalculated and updated turn information is announced.
- Point your phone in a given direction to hear what is nearby with the LookAround Wand.
- Nearby Points of interest and intersections are automatically announced.”
RNIB Navigator is free to download in the App Store but requires a paid subscription. According to a Sendero press release, “Navigator is available for the first month only at a promotional price of £2.99 so as many users can try it as possible. Higher one-month, one-year and three-year subscriptions will become the standard pricing after the introductory month.”
Interested users can find a web version of the RNIB Navigator User Guide at http://senderogroup.com/products/RNIBGPS/RNIBGPSUserGuide.htm. AppleVis also has a podcast demonstrating Seeing Eye GPS, and we are reasonably sure that the two apps are very similar—if not identical.