I have played around with this app but haven't used it all that much. From what I can gather about the app it is somewhat simmilar to BlindSquare in that you can create your own points of interest. However, with Ariadne GPS it is also possible to get a map of a location you are traveling to. To use this map all you have to do is run your finger over your phone screen to determine positions of streets etc. However, unlike Seeing eye GPS Ariadne does not give you turn by turn navigation. I might be wrong here but I also don't think that Ariadne gives you points of interest around you like BlindSquare and Seeing eye GPS does. If I am wrong please someone correcct me on this. Ariadne will tell you where you are if you push the where am I button or if you have it set to monnitor it will automatically tell you what street you are on and the address you are passing.
If you are not able to access the internet, or you are in an open area, Ariadne can be especially useful. It lets you very easily add any "favorite" or import favorites from other databases. There is an in-app purchase for customizing favorites, so each can trigger at a different distance and issue a different sound. It also makes it easy to edit Favorites.
So for example, when I'm out walking I might give a favorite a brief name like "beep" or "stairs". "Beep" would remind me the crossing has an audible signal. Later, in my comfortable air-conditioned space, with my Braille display I can give that Favorite a more meaningful and longer name.
iMove, by contrast, lets you record a "speech note" so you can say "I'm at that weird corner where five streets come together at an angle by the bank". But you can't change the speech note later. And also you cannot give individual properties, like a triggering distance to each individual speech note.
I'm new to BlindSquare, but I don't think I can add a favorite or point like that. I can search for a point and make an existing point in its database a favorite, but I can't mark a bus stop or a particular flight of stairs or building entrance. But BlindSquare has an amazing number of locations and categories. And it really is the most effective navigation app for telling what you are passing by. It can tell you when you are getting close and when it's behind you. And it can filter in or out by categories, so you can ask it to tell you about all food venues you are approaching but skip informing you about hospitals or hotels. The other navigation apps don't have this granularity.
BlindSquare is far less effective for finding your booth at the street fair when you wandered away to find a restroom. Use Ariadne for that.
Seeing Assistant move lets you also mark anything as a point of interest, such as your picnic blanket on the beach. It uses Openstreet maps and sometimes can tell you about a point the other apps don't know about. I believe Ariadne queries the google map server.
For navigating a city and knowing what is nearby, BlindSquare is much better. For exploring a map and walking in rural or country areas, I'd be using Seeing Assistant move or Ariadne. For riding around on a bus, I like the way iMove announces addresses, though Ariadne also does this job well.
Each has their uses. It's a good idea to play with the monitoring features of each. I run them all simultaneously, then turn monitoring off on all but one. If you have a digital recorder, try walking the same area with each. Record the results and compare when you can relax and not concentrate on the route. Be sure to set each app first so that it monitors within the same radius, say 100 yards and at the same interval, say 10 seconds.
I like exploring the settings for each app with my digital recorder on. Then I can listen back to it later while saving the phone's battery and perhaps taking a few notes.
If you don't want to buy all of them, carefully read each one's tutorial and/or manual on the web. I did, and ended up buying them all anyway!
BlindSquare announces intersections, and Ariadne, iMove and Seeing Assistant Move do not.
None announce highway exits, which is a feature I'll be seeking when we drive across the united states again this summer. It was a feature we could have really used last year.
I cannot comment on Seeing Eye as I don't have it.
I can say all this navigation software for the blind requires an internet connection to tell your current location, unless you've marked it previously as a Favorite or Point of Interest. And only Ariadne and Seeing Assistant Move can tell you where you are located in relation to a saved favorite if you are offline. And only Ariadne lets you customize plus edit individual Favorites later. If for example, it's announcing the library way before you are actually near the library, you can later decrease the triggering distance for just the library without affecting other favorites.
Navigon also works offline but it's strictly for driving directions. You need to go several menu levels deep to learn your current location.
Comments
Why not check the apple vis
Why not check the apple vis thread about the app? I don't check it as I don't use the app, but use navigon.
Take care.
Ariadne GPS
I have played around with this app but haven't used it all that much. From what I can gather about the app it is somewhat simmilar to BlindSquare in that you can create your own points of interest. However, with Ariadne GPS it is also possible to get a map of a location you are traveling to. To use this map all you have to do is run your finger over your phone screen to determine positions of streets etc. However, unlike Seeing eye GPS Ariadne does not give you turn by turn navigation. I might be wrong here but I also don't think that Ariadne gives you points of interest around you like BlindSquare and Seeing eye GPS does. If I am wrong please someone correcct me on this. Ariadne will tell you where you are if you push the where am I button or if you have it set to monnitor it will automatically tell you what street you are on and the address you are passing.
I hope this has helped somewhat
Bryan
It's more effective offline
If you are not able to access the internet, or you are in an open area, Ariadne can be especially useful. It lets you very easily add any "favorite" or import favorites from other databases. There is an in-app purchase for customizing favorites, so each can trigger at a different distance and issue a different sound. It also makes it easy to edit Favorites.
So for example, when I'm out walking I might give a favorite a brief name like "beep" or "stairs". "Beep" would remind me the crossing has an audible signal. Later, in my comfortable air-conditioned space, with my Braille display I can give that Favorite a more meaningful and longer name.
iMove, by contrast, lets you record a "speech note" so you can say "I'm at that weird corner where five streets come together at an angle by the bank". But you can't change the speech note later. And also you cannot give individual properties, like a triggering distance to each individual speech note.
I'm new to BlindSquare, but I don't think I can add a favorite or point like that. I can search for a point and make an existing point in its database a favorite, but I can't mark a bus stop or a particular flight of stairs or building entrance. But BlindSquare has an amazing number of locations and categories. And it really is the most effective navigation app for telling what you are passing by. It can tell you when you are getting close and when it's behind you. And it can filter in or out by categories, so you can ask it to tell you about all food venues you are approaching but skip informing you about hospitals or hotels. The other navigation apps don't have this granularity.
BlindSquare is far less effective for finding your booth at the street fair when you wandered away to find a restroom. Use Ariadne for that.
Seeing Assistant move lets you also mark anything as a point of interest, such as your picnic blanket on the beach. It uses Openstreet maps and sometimes can tell you about a point the other apps don't know about. I believe Ariadne queries the google map server.
For navigating a city and knowing what is nearby, BlindSquare is much better. For exploring a map and walking in rural or country areas, I'd be using Seeing Assistant move or Ariadne. For riding around on a bus, I like the way iMove announces addresses, though Ariadne also does this job well.
Each has their uses. It's a good idea to play with the monitoring features of each. I run them all simultaneously, then turn monitoring off on all but one. If you have a digital recorder, try walking the same area with each. Record the results and compare when you can relax and not concentrate on the route. Be sure to set each app first so that it monitors within the same radius, say 100 yards and at the same interval, say 10 seconds.
I like exploring the settings for each app with my digital recorder on. Then I can listen back to it later while saving the phone's battery and perhaps taking a few notes.
If you don't want to buy all of them, carefully read each one's tutorial and/or manual on the web. I did, and ended up buying them all anyway!
BlindSquare announces intersections, and Ariadne, iMove and Seeing Assistant Move do not.
None announce highway exits, which is a feature I'll be seeking when we drive across the united states again this summer. It was a feature we could have really used last year.
I cannot comment on Seeing Eye as I don't have it.
I can say all this navigation software for the blind requires an internet connection to tell your current location, unless you've marked it previously as a Favorite or Point of Interest. And only Ariadne and Seeing Assistant Move can tell you where you are located in relation to a saved favorite if you are offline. And only Ariadne lets you customize plus edit individual Favorites later. If for example, it's announcing the library way before you are actually near the library, you can later decrease the triggering distance for just the library without affecting other favorites.
Navigon also works offline but it's strictly for driving directions. You need to go several menu levels deep to learn your current location.