by David Redmond
Microsoft have just released Seeing AI 5.0 and it's got a feature that
feels, well, familiar. If you previously used Microsoft's Soundscape app,
this new feature might be of interest.
Seeing AI now has an indoor navigation mode, and it uses spatial audio just
like Soundscape did.
It's a cool feature, and it works fairly well. This is a preview feature so
while it's in the app for you to use, it might have a few bugs and rough
edges.
Let's take a look at how it all works.
How it works
First things first, you need routes. You can create a route yourself, or you
can use one that has been sent to you. The route creation process is
accessible, but Microsoft seem to be encouraging us to get sighted friends
to make the routes for us. The route creation process does involve a clean
walk of the route, so in fairness to Microsoft their approach makes some
sense. Having an orientation and mobility instructor create routes for you
might be the safest way to go, but how you choose to do it is up to you.
Once you have routes, you are good to go. You go to the world channel and
select actions, indoor navigation, and then select your route.
Once you select a route you have 3 options. Follow, share and more. The
first two are self explanatory, and the third is just information about the
route, it's basically irrelevant, but kind of needs to be there at the same
time.
Once you select follow, you'll hear a tone in the direction you need to go
in. This requires headphones obviously, but any cheap pair will do. As you
walk along, you'll hear a tone as you pass markers along the way. These are
like progress indicators helping you stay on track.
Once you arrive, you'll hear a different tone to indicate you've completed
the route. If everything worked properly, you should now be at your desired
location. For people who do have some vision, I'm told that yellow bubbles
help guide the way on screen, so you also have a visual reference. Very
cool.
Is it good?
It's a good system, but it could be improved. One person I spoke with
mentioned they prefer a basic left and right instead of the spatial audio.
While I disagree with them, that's personal preference and it shows how the
mode could have customization features.
There's also no indicator to indicate your going the wrong way, which would
be nice. You can tell a bit using spatial audio, but this could be improved.
Finally, I wish routes could be shared to a public database. I can text or
email routes I've created to my colleagues, but if a service user visits the
office they won't have access to those routes. This would be a nice way to
improve things going forward. I think this could be the feature that would
truly change the game.
Summary
Look, this is a mobility tool, it's not a magic pill that replaces the need
for mobility skills, a guide dog or a cane. With that said it's still a tool
of value.
This feature is still a preview in the app and is far from perfect, but I
think the potential is huge. In my view, it's the best attempt at indoor
navigation that I've seen, and I really hope this develops more going
forward.
Imagine walking into a building, and getting directions from the door to the
desk, from a route someone created in the past. That would be kind of epic.
This demo sounds best with headphones, as that way you'll be able to hear
what I hear:
Audio Demo at:
https://www.ncbi.ie/indoor-navigation-comes-to-seeing-ai/
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