An innovative app helps people who are blind or have low vision navigate public spaces like hospitals, shopping malls, and universities, offering them newfound freedom and independence.
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00:00Google Maps, but for indoors. Bindi Maps guides you with an accuracy of up to 30
00:06centimeters. It can even tell you where to find the right stamps at a post office.
00:14Someone who is blind or has low vision can use it in voice-over mode. First, there's a mental map, then spoken directions.
00:23Unisex accessible bathroom is 37 meters to your left as the crow flies. Start by turning to your left and go for 22 meters.
00:33The idea behind the app, to help navigate complex indoor spaces.
00:39We just create an environment where everybody can access things indoors.
00:46So that could be education and then later work and then later entertainment, like going to the shops, going out with your friends.
00:54We're reducing barriers for people and that really excites me in what our world could look like when we have participation by even more people.
01:05So far, Bindi Maps can be used in almost 90 locations in Australia.
01:12In 2022, the technology was installed at the Budapest International Airport in Hungary. Setting it up is straightforward.
01:22So we do need a floor plan. We create the map that we use. We create some really beautiful digital maps that go into our app.
01:33Then on top of that, what we need to do is we need to go and take a video of the space.
01:38And that's how we set up our localization. We take the data from the videos and we create sort of like a digital twin.
01:46And that's what we then use to localize the person in space.
01:51An algorithm allows for simultaneous locating and mapping.
01:55Using AI, the app continually works to find the fastest, most accessible paths within a building.
02:01So that everyone can get from A to B with ease.