I'm mostly an android user these days but I've started providing training on both mobile platforms. I'm curious how well apps like goodmaps, lazarillo and blind square are currently working on iOS. Over on the android side there's nothing right now that even comes close to what Nearby Explorer used to offer and I'm hoping things are better on iPhones. On android goodmaps often thinks I'm several blocks away from where I actually am, lazarillo is great for letting me know my current location and closest address but can't do much else reliably because it's so focused on telling me all the stuff I'm allegedly passing as I walk. How's navigation going for all of you on the platform the developers of these specialized apps pay most attention to? Are there any other apps I should familiarize myself with on the iOS side that would help my clients?
Comments
Good and bad news
The good news is that Blindsquare, google maps, apple maps, and Microsoft Soundscape all work well. The bad news is that Soundscape is being discontinued from June 1st.
Yeah I knew about soundscape
That really is a shame, I'd heard overwhelmingly positive things about it. I'm glad apple maps work well and I've normally had good luck with google maps, especially the walking directions, but I like using them with another app to tell me my approximate address and, if possible, information about upcoming intersections.
Improved Accuracy
With the iPhone 14 Pro lineup, the iPhone has precision dual‑frequency satellite navigation making location accuracy within an inch instead of 20 feet. Also, with the iPhone 12 in 2020, the iPhone supports the Chinese BeiDou system, with 35 operational satellites as well as Galileo from the European Union with 24 operational satellites. Both support multi-frequency satellite navigation.
Also, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max are the only mobile phones in the world to offer satellite emergency communications when no cellular signal is available. Combined with new crash detection functionality, the new services have already saved lives of people who would have died from their injuries or have frozen to death in remote Alaska.
Walking turn by turn directions in Apple Maps is nicer with more guidance and helpfulness about what is approaching than in Google Maps.
Kelly
Good to know about apple maps
I knew about the crash detection, I was amused by the false positives on rollercoasters but it's exciting tech and I hope it gets more adoption. I think I’m more interested in the specialized blindness apps than hardware features of the devices right now though. I’ve been using Glonas, Beidou etc on my samsung and I’m glad they’re included most everywhere now but I’ve yet to find an app that really leverages that alleged accuracy improvement in the blindness world … but I know this is an area where android has often lagged compared to apple. I never got soundscape on my main phone for example.