Assistive Product Waymap

The Waymap app helps people with visual impairments to navigate local public transport. It offers free, step-by-step audio directions with an accuracy of up to one meter and enables a large mobility radius.

In contrast to GPS, Waymap uses the sensors of the Inertial Measurement Unit (magnetometer, accelerometer, barometer) in the smartphone. A Bayesian algorithm evaluates up to 5,000 possible positions to determine the exact location and provide precise instructions.

The accuracy depends on the mapping of the surroundings. For outdoor areas, Waymap plans to use maps from local transportation companies or OpenStreetMap data. For tests in Washington, lidar scans and 360-degree videos were used to detect obstacles and landmarks.

After a successful two-week test at three subway stations, Waymap is planning trials at 25 subway stations and 1,000 bus stops by September 2022.

In the long term, Waymap wants to motivate sighted users to use the app while traveling in order to constantly improve the maps and algorithms based on their movement data.