Blind and visually-impaired students and faculty at the University of Guelph (U of G) will soon be able to navigate campus more easily than ever using new app BlindSquare. The U of G is the first university in the world to fully install the app for its campus.
“Using braille on signs just didn’t go far enough,” Jill Vigers, U of G manager of architectural design, said.
The app announces streets, intersections, and points of interest throughout campus, such as stairways and classrooms to help users navigate both indoor and outdoor obstacles, according to a U of G press release.
“BlindSquare was a great solution that is really tailored to the low vision and blind,” Vigers said.
Although other schools have tried BlindSquare, Guelph is the first in the world to install each of the three tiers of the BlindSquare system, according to an email from Rob Nevin, principal of BlindSquare installation company U-R-Able.
The first tier is GPS-based beacons at points of interest. The second is a beacon positioning system that illuminates entrances with information. The third tier is the installation of special labels with QR codes on doors that unlock descriptions of what’s behind the door, according to Nevin.
The app works in conjunction with Foursquare and Open Street Map to get information about your surroundings such as the nearest Starbucks or most popular bookstore in your area.
According to Vigers, two buildings are currently live at Guelph with the rest scheduled to go live mid-August in preparation for returning students in the fall.
The local Lions Club will be donating $48,000 to the project in the next five years, she said.
“We’re hoping to cover the rest of the campus this way,” she added.
Vigers confirmed that no project fees will be added to tuition costs.
She said, come September, the university’s accessibility services program will be planning an orientation about how to use the app and will be requesting direct feedback from students.
“This is an important step in making sure we keep this a workable, realistic solution and not just something that sounds good,” Vigers said.
According to her, the university hopes this will become a factor when students with visual impairments are deciding which post-secondary institution to attend.
Other universities have shown interest in BlindSquare since Guelph received media attention, said Nevin.
“We’re expecting more in Canada and then other Universities and schools internationally,” said Nevin about BlindSquare installations.
Vigers said another Southern Ontario university has already contacted her to learn more about the app.
BlindSquare was used at Carleton University for a year, in 2015 according to Dean Mellway, acting director for the Research, Education, Accessibility, and Design Initiative (READ). READ is a Carleton-run program aimed at helping prioritize campus and education accessibility.
“As much as we liked the app, the user cost associated with it was too high, and the utility of the app wasn’t good enough,” Mellway said.
BlindSquare is currently listed on the app store at $54.99.
Carleton is now building infrastructure for the app Key2Access to be rolled out in September, according to Mellway. He said the app essentially does the same thing as BlindSquare but it is free for user.
Mellway said Key2Access is more universally applicable than BlindSquare because it is not only useful for those with visual impairments, but anybody who is new to campus and needs help getting around.
Last year, over 24 visually-impaired students were registered at Guelph U according to Vigers.
“Anything we can do to make campus a better, safer, more inclusive spot,” said Vigers.
