There is a wish among most people to walk around on their own. Most of us can do this without any help, and we are so used to it, that we never reflect on it. But for people with visual impairments, travelling around independently is a major problem. There are two separate activities going on when walking. The first immediate activity is avoiding obstacles in the environment, the other is navigating the area.
Few products can currently help the blind to navigate through an unknown environment.
New technology now makes it possible to create a tool that in every day life can assist blind people to find their way. The purpose of this project is therefore to look into the area of outdoor orientation and navigation for blind and visually impaired people, to make a hi-tech navigational tool that is based on satellite navigation and that provides the user with the information wanted and needed to simplify the daily problem of navigating. The WayFinder is a personal device to bring along when going out. At any point during a walk outdoors, the user can ask the WayFinder to tell the precise location. The position is described by distance to an address or another defined location.