Google New Features Detailed Voice Guidance in Maps for Visually Impaired People

Google Added A New Features In Their Map Applications For The Visually Impaired People.

Google has begun rolling out its new features and its new detailed voice guidance feature on maps during world Sight Day last Thursday, Oct. 10. The new features make navigating new places easier and safe for the people with visual impairments.

More than 250 million people worldwide are either blind or have moderate-to-severe vision impairments. Google’s new features have navigation of directions consisting of simple commands like “turn left at the intersection”.

According to the article of Inquirer.net, Wakana Sugiyama is a legally blind business analyst who is living in Tokyo, Japan. She describes her day-to-day struggle of traveling to new places with nothing but meager directions to guide her.

“In some cases I’ll have a friend to join me on a trip, but in the others, I may decide not to take the journey at all,” Sugiyama said. The new maps feature was developed by people like sugiyama who have similar visual impairments.

Maps can now proactively inform users if they are on the correct path, the distance until the next turn, and the direction in which they are walking. If they are walking from the initial route, Google will verbally notify them that their route is being recalculated.

Based on the article, to improve user safety and comfort, maps will also let a user know if they are nearing a large intersection and encourage them to cross with caution. Detailed voice guidance is now available on Android and IOS in English for United States user, and Japanese for japan users.

This #WorldSightDay, take a walk with us.

Thanks to detailed voice-guided cues, users can now find precise, step-by-step navigation. ➡️ https://t.co/pADTeiLDsg pic.twitter.com/jCgO0GzUh9

— Google Maps (@googlemaps) October 10, 2019