Recommendations for a good GPS walking app?

By Lovely Lavender, 30 June, 2022

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi, my husband and I are going on our first date in a while. Unfortunately, it is an a part of the city that I am incredibly unfamiliar with and would like to choose a walking GPS app for the blind. I haven’t seen a new GPS walking out posted in the last three years or so can anyone make some good recommendations about an app that is regularly updated. Thanks so much
Yvonne Cowan

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Comments

By Justin Philips on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

It doesn't show up for some countries. So you may have to switch to another country's appstore to find it. Quite handy it is!

By Kev on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

I've been wondering this, too. I loved NearbyExplorer. But right now, I think the only sollutions are BlindSquare, and if you wish directions to somewhere, you'd have to use a third-party app to get them, like the built-in maps app.

By wiljames on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

Some folks do not like this app but I do.

GoodMaps Outdoors is basically a newer version of Seeing Eye GPS. I would recommend it as it gives you information regarding streets. For example, if you are walking on Davidson Street and approaching 7th Street, GoodMaps Outdoors would tell you 7th Street 200 yards left and right. It is free so you don't loose any money.

Denise and I used this app to walk from a shopping center. It knew we were in the back of the shopping center so it gave us directions to walk toward the exit.

By Larry Thacker Jr. on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

It doesn't do directions natively, but it's the best I've found for explaining what is arround. Goodmaps outdoors can also do this and it does give directions, but I only use it in cases where I want that. The big advantage for Goodmaps is of course that it's free.

By Saqib on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

Try Lazarillo GPS for the blind, It works as well as BlindSquare and the added bonus is that it's free to download. It will announce street crossings and bus stops.

By David Goodwin on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

A quick note to say that Soundscape isn't limited to the US and Canada.

The following is from the SoundScape page:

At initial launch, Soundscape was available for download only in the UK and US and has since been released in Australia, Canada, Sweden, France and Brazil; however, if you are traveling to other countries Soundscape will continue to work, but please be aware of carrier charges if not on Wi-Fi. Regarding opening to other markets, we are working hard with partners and other organizations to determine the most effective way we can do this and will provide updates on our website as we have them.

By Eileen on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

It's starting to look a little like abandonware having not been updated for more than 2 years, but Ariadne GPS is another candidate for your navigation toolbox:

Ariadne GPS is more than a simple gps app.

Besides offering you the possibility to know your position and to get information about the street, the number, etc. it also lets you explore the map of what's around you.

What do we mean by saying "explore"? You'll deal with a talking map. If you have VoiceOver activated on your device, you will be able to know the street names and numbers that are around you by touching them.

Just put your finger on the screen of your device, when showing the map and moving it you will be told the info's about the street you're touching.

Your position is on the center of the screen. What's in front of you is on the top half of the screen and things behind you are on the bottom half of the screen.

You can also explore a different region than the one around you by telling the app the street and the city.

You can ask for information about your position at any time, also activating a function, called monitor, that will give you this info periodically (Please read the note below).

This app has also got some other useful features that might help when walking or traveling by bus, train etc.

If you add your favourite points to the app database, you can be alerted when you get closer than a certain distance to one of them.

This app is completely accessible using VoiceOver and gives you access to information that are normally unavailable to people using the speech synthesizer and can be therefore especially useful to blind and partially sighted people.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ariadne-gps/id441063072

By Dave Nason on Sunday, July 24, 2022 - 16:27

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

It seems that even their own website may be out of date, as Soundscape launched in Ireland last year, but is not listed in David’s quote above.
I find Soundscape and Blind Square both pretty good for telling me where I am and street crossings etc, but if you need directions, you probably need to combine these with Apple or Google Maps.