Waymap’s navigation approach and app are deeply grounded in research into independent travel for people with disabilities. For years we have led the development of the international and American standards for audio-navigation.
By defining how products should work and the ways consumers can interact with them, standards help systems become safer and trustworthy, driving confident user adoption. It is also crucial that user needs dictate how products and services are delivered, rather than functionality and features being decided to suit the needs of a particular technology.
Developing Standards
The first of these standards were the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union Standard F.921 and its American counterpart, the Consumer Technology Association Standard 2076. Together, these formed the first international and American standards for digital navigation for vision-impaired people. These standards were shaped through intense research and consultation with blind and low-vision people from 2014 to 2018 in Oslo, Barcelona, London, Los Angeles and Sydney. Waymap’s support for and compliance with these standards is what drives our technological prowess and inclusively designed user experience. This community-based approach ensures that our services continue to meet the true and demanding needs of all our users.
In 2021, Waymap built upon these standards to develop CTA 2076.1, which extends the previous documents to cover persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This was crucial as many people have multiple or overlapping disabilities and complex needs.
Shaping Policy
This work is motivated by the fact that navigation apps are essential to connecting people and places, take up of public transport and living independently, but don’t work for everyone and don’t work inside for anyone. This means that people with disabilities, or even people with less confidence in their own mobility, are excluded, need extra help and resources to make a journey, or are isolated at home.
Because Waymap’s breakthrough technology was developed for blind people and to enable independent living, our product represents a huge advance on all other navigation apps. With Waymap deployed, we know that people with disabilities are willing and able to use public transit systems instead of publicly-funded taxi services or private cars. Improved mobility also helps people live more independent, fuller and healthier lives.
Waymap remain committed to standards research and continue to build as much choice and flexibility into our services to meet as many different types of mobility needs as we can.
Would you like to work with us? Interested in a location near you that can benefit from Waymap’s breakthrough navigation solution? Please get in touch above.
