Hindsight · review build · data not yet validated

Hand-held GPS devices help the blind navigate

Ray Kurzweil, Books and essays, 1999, published 1999-01

After decades of ineffective attempts, useful navigation devices have been introduced that can assist blind people in avoiding physical obstacles in their path, and finding their way around, using global positioning system (“GPS”) technology.

Source

Verdict

hitThe two blind graders disagreed (A: partial, B: hit). A third agent settled it (D20).

Grader A: partial

Useful GPS navigation devices for the blind existed in 2009: the HumanWare Trekker Breeze ($895, reviewed March 2009) announced streets, intersections and landmarks and guided users back on route. But GPS devices did not help avoid physical obstacles, and urban signal loss limited them.

Test: Existence plus function test: GPS way-finding for blind users introduced (met, 2008-2009); obstacle avoidance by GPS devices (not met).

GPS Made Simple: A Review of the Trekker Breeze (AFB AccessWorld) (2009-03): $895 talking GPS announces streets and intersections and guides users back on route; no obstacle detection described.

Grader B: hit

Talking GPS devices for blind travelers were on sale: Trekker (reviewed 2003), BrailleNote GPS, and Trekker Breeze ($895, reviewed March 2009). They did not detect obstacles, but the main claim of useful GPS wayfinding devices is met.

Test: Availability test: multiple commercial products by 2003-2009.

AccessWorld: GPS Made Simple, A Review of the Trekker Breeze (2009-03): Talking GPS for blind users ($895) announces intersections and guides to saved landmarks by voice; no obstacle detection. Earlier Trekker reviewed July 2003.

All captured fields

rank: 52
kind: decade_prediction
section: Disabilities
subject: Hand-held GPS devices help the blind navigate
target year: 2009
timing: in
position: Chapter 9, "2009"; item Disabilities 5 in Kurzweil 2010, p. 46
confidence: high
note: Wording as reproduced by the author in "How My Predictions Are Faring" (2010); book page not given there. Subject label is the essay's own item heading.