Description of App
The aim of this app is to allow a blind/low vision person to move independently thanks to the ability to walk to a destination starting from their position and have information useful to facilitate their orientation while moving. This information is provided and adapted taking into consideration the peculiar needs of a blind/low vision pedestrian and the app user interface is simple and easy to use.
The user can enter a destination and get the turn by turn directions from their current position to that destination. Waypoints can be added to improve the effectiveness of the calculated route.
While moving the app will also give information on next junctions as well as distances and directions.
At any time the user can query the app for their position and get it in terms of street address. A list of junctions around the user, with the corresponding distances and bearings, can also be obtained.
Information relevant to the user mobility are provided by using the Text To Speech (even if no screenreader is running).
This app may run in background mode and use the location service, in case the navigation to a point is set. The use of background GPS may draw heavily on your device battery. Use this feature only as needed.
Comments
This is free? Wow! And again
This is free? Wow! And again I say wow! How does this compare to Blind Square?
getting navigation
hi all, how do i make this give me turn by turn to an address. i have found the address, and all i see is route summary and save, and home. doubletappingb route summary just lets me add way points. do i have to add waypoints before it can tell me directions?
Starting navigation
Brandon, near the top of the route summary screen you should find a button to start navigation. The first thing that you will be asked to do involves turning your iPhone until it vibrates to alert you that it is pointing in the start-out direction of your route. After this, you should get spoken alerts as you progress.
Missing one big thing
One thing I noticed that this app does not have is that you cannot just type in a name of a place and have it pull up the address. You have to know the address and enter it. Most GPS apps at this point don't have this issue. Looks like a good app though, and I want to try it out around here. A lot of GPS apps get directions incorrect.
Looks promising
What i wonder is if ViaOptaNav can give umm how shall i put it, live info? What i mean by this is if you can start walking with the app in the foreground and as you walk you hear the intersections and other things along the way announced rather like in Ariadne or Blindsquare? If this feature is missing, it's not a show stopper but it's good to know that you only can get turn-by-turn instructions if you have programmed a place to go to, if you catch my drift.
Only when routing
I believe that you can only get alerts when you are navigating to a selected location. So, no, it won’t tell you what’s around you when on an undirected walk.