Introducing GoodMaps Explore app

By kc, 4 January, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

GoodMaps Explore is an accessible navigation application. It helps everyone, visually impaired or not, navigate indoors and outdoors safely and efficiently. To make that happen, GoodMaps is on a mission to map the great indoors by streamlining that process. We can accurately map a building in the time it takes to walk through it. These maps are available to Explore app users.

The GoodMaps Explore app provides:
1. Simple user interface that effectively describes your surroundings and is easy to learn with on-board tutorials.
2. No-cost solution. The GoodMaps Explore application is available for free.
3. Completely accessible interface. We purposely built accessibility into the design from the start. Our design efforts were fueled by feedback from actual users, results of rigorous accessibility testing (including recommendations from CTA-2076 Standard), and maximizing the built-in Apple accessibility.

Top Functions include:
Location: On-demand or automatic updates about your immediate surroundings. Shake your phone to hear a snapshot of your current location, including current direction, nearest room, street, or points of interest (POI).

Directions: Accurate indoor routing for independent travel.  Follow a route to a destination in mapped indoor venues.

Lookaround: Direction-based discovery at your fingertips. Discover the POIs in the direction you point the phone. You will hear the POIs in order of proximity.

Nearby: Notifications on the go.  Hear automatic location notifications like street names, restaurants, parks, and shops outdoors along with office spaces, reception areas, water fountains, and restrooms indoors.

Virtual Mode: Before you go. Set your position outdoors to a POI and explore its surroundings.   Search indoor POIs and follow routes to them virtually.

You can also:
Select a Favorite POI or address to quickly set as a destination.
Search for POIs indoors or outdoors.
Locate nearby intersections.
Load Be My Eyes to provide live visual assistance.

Another revolutionary aspect of GoodMaps Explore is the superior indoor positioning accuracy provided by camera-based positioning (CPS). CPS technology utilizes LiDAR and geo-referenced images in a space to determine a user's location down to 2-3 feet of accuracy without needing to install beacons or hardware.

We welcome any reviews to our app, you can download it for free from https://apps.apple.com/us/app/goodmaps-explore/id1524698552.
Contact support@goodmaps.com with questions.

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Comments

By Squirrel on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 11:37

A cursory check suggests that this app is currently only available in the US. Is this right? If so, are there any plans to make it available elsewhere? Thanks

By slj on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 11:37

Hi.
Thanks for sharing. The app sounds amazing and I would really like to give it a try, but it's not available in Denmark. Why only release such great app world wide?

By kc on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 11:37

Currently we are available in the US and Canada, coming soon to the UK. We are always expanding where GoodMaps Explore is offered. You can opt-in to our newsletter, where we will announce when we expand to new countries. To sign up for the newsletter go to www.goodmaps.com and sign up at the bottom of the home page.

We are always expanding where GoodMaps Explore is offered. You can opt-in to our newsletter, where we will announce when we expand to new countries. To sign up for the newsletter go to www.goodmaps.com and sign up at the bottom of the home page. Feel free to use the contact form, or email info@goodmaps.com if you would like to discuss further.

By Florian on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 11:37

Has anyone compared this to Nearby Explorer Online that, seemingly, does a lot of what this app does and more, apart from the indoor navigation?

I am curious about the indoor maps. It says it uses geo-referenced images and the LIDAR sensor, does that mean not having this sensor makes this feature too inaccurate to use?
And it is mentioned that mapping a building takes as long as walking through it, but how is the mappin actually performed, can the app do that?

By charles on Monday, January 25, 2021 - 11:37

I find that both Nearby Explorer and it's Online version, which are unfortunately no longer in the app store, are far superior. Both have fairly identical features and performance, spot on. Goodmaps, however, is very poor when it comes to outdoor navigation and the turn by turn instructions are poor at best. I am using iOs 13.3 on a 512 gig iPhone 12 pro

GoodMaps is a separate company from APH, and GoodMaps Explore is a separate app from Nearby Explorer. The app, GoodMaps Explore, works outdoors as well as in a set of Indoor Venues that have been mapped by our team. Our outdoor capabilities are streamlined to work for most users and support core outdoor features needed for navigation. Our goal is to make Explore available for a large number of users, which means we won't have every feature Nearby Explorer has. Explore has a predetermined set of configurations that make it easy for new users to learn the app. This was an intentional choice GoodMaps made to lower the barrier of entry for more blind users. Additionally, we are working on exciting outdoor features that Nearby would not be able to accomplish.
We are happy to take feature suggestions at support@goodmaps.com.

The geo-referenced images and LiDAR sensors are used only in the mapping process. The user does not need to have LiDAR on their phone. When using the camera-based positioning the user will only need to use the camera built into their phone.

Right now, our mapping team produces the maps to ensure quality. You can learn more about our mapping process on our YouTube Channel, https://youtu.be/rCwYKdZmyCE.