Accessibility: How an app guides people with visual impairments through the city
The LOC.id app guides people with visual impairments to traffic lights and past e-scooters. In Hanover, schoolchildren and trainees test the app.
(Image: Albert Hulm)
"Trrrrrr – Attention, construction site!", sounds the red and white striped beacon. The trrrrrr sound is reminiscent of a woodpecker drumming on a tree trunk. The construction site beacon two steps away answers with a slightly higher-pitched "Trrrrrr". Together they form a kind of acoustic gate through which people with visual impairments can safely pass the construction site in the east of Hanover.
- The LOC.id app makes it easier for people with visual impairments to find their way around the city.
- The technology comes from the North Rhine-Westphalian company RTB.
- Students at the State Education Center for the Blind in Hanover test how well LOC.id guides them through construction sites.
The long-term construction site in question is located directly in front of the entrance gate to the Landesbildungszentrum fĂĽr Blinde (LBZB), which has made a virtue out of necessity: Together with the city of Hanover and the construction company Strabag, the LBZB is testing acoustic guidance systems here during the lengthy construction project. The partners want to develop standards for barrier-free construction site markings that will apply to future tenders.
To this end, they are testing different acoustic signals and test arrangements. Small receiver modules with loudspeakers are installed in four beacons, or rather the round, yellow lights at the top. As soon as a person approaches with a small handheld transmitter or the appropriate app on their cell phone, these activate the sound output of the receiver modules using Bluetooth signals. "LOC.id" is the name of this technology developed by RTB, a company based in Bad Lippspringe, Westphalia. We provide an overview of the technology, explain who can use it and where, and report on how the pilot project in Hanover is going.
Accessible app as a transmitter
People with visual impairments need the LOC.id app or a small handheld transmitter from RTB (approx. 100 euros) to use the technology. The app is available free of charge for iOS and Android and is designed to be accessible. In order to work in the background, it requires permanent access to the Bluetooth and location function of the cell phone. The operating system requires the location services to be active if it is to measure distances via Bluetooth. However, the app does not use the GPS data, explains Marc Rummeny, Managing Director of Marketing and Sales at RTB.
If Bluetooth and GPS are active, LOC.id works in a simple way: to begin with, users tap the "Activate LOC.id" button on the app's start page. The app then searches for LOC.id-compatible devices and automatically activates them when the cell phone approaches them. The user interface is simple and easy to use with tools such as Google TalkBack. The app also searches for LOC.id devices in the vicinity in background mode. It lists the devices found at – The distance at which the sounders at traffic lights, elevators or roadworks beacons become active depends on their respective settings.
If you download the LOC.id app and try it out in your own area, you may be disappointed. The technology is far from widespread and even if a city like Hanover works with it in principle, often only individual reception modules are installed at traffic lights or other locations.
An overview of some cities that are currently participating can be found on the website of Smart Mobility Services GmbH (SMS). SMS supports companies in the LOC.id network. This includes companies and associations that develop aids in public spaces for people with limited mobility. To find out whether and where exactly a city is using LOC.id technology, it is best to ask the city directly.
