Chip,
With most laptops and netbooks running either Vista or Windows 7
nowadays, you might be able to take advantage of the built-in voice
recognition these operating systems provide. XP users might even have an
option or two, though some cash will have to be dropped for anything decent.
Steve
On 12/9/2009 6:35 PM, Chip Orange wrote:
yes, this kind of thing M.J. is very appreciated.
Tiler, you're right; if you have a spare couple of thousand of dollars, then
go buy a notetaker and a gps nav option; what is that, 3 thousand dollars?
it's much better than this will be, although this will have a few options
they currently don't.
but, if you spent the money you had on a laptop or better a netbook, then
this kind of program, for the cost of a gps receiver and MapPoint (say
$200), would give you a great deal of additional mobility which you wouldn't
otherwise have.
if M.J.'s suggestion of voice recognition doesn't work, then maybe an
external numeric pad, or a wireless numeric pad, could be worn on the belt
for control of the app. maybe others will have other suggestions.
I'm doing it mostly because I'm just interested in GPS, but I'd like it to
be useful too.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: MJ Rys [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 6:19 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: looking for collaborators for a GPS project
This is only a suggestion, but what if you used a voice
recognization program with the GPS?
Then you wouldn't have to press any buttons, just give voice commands.
In reference to the negative criticisum, woudn't it be better if it were
more on the possitive side?
I am sure we can always find reasons why things won't work, but how about
suggestions that could make this project more of a success.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tylers Scripting"<[email protected]>
To:<[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 5:11 PM
Subject: RE: looking for collaborators for a GPS project
Hi Chip,
You'd not have easy access to the laptop or netbook when you're walking.
I understand your point about the bus deal, but when I'm walking, do you
think I'm going to stop in the middle of the street just to press a
button, and put myself in a wrisk of getting hit by a car?
Tyler
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chip Orange"<[email protected]
To:<[email protected]
Date sent: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 17:33:39 -0500
Subject: RE: looking for collaborators for a GPS project
Tiler,
laptops can be worn in backpack cases, and netbooks can be worn
in
over-the-shoulder cases similar to those for notetakers.
An ear-bud or bluetooth headset (with one ear left off the ear)
can provide
you with the audio output you need as you travel along.
this isn't designed so much as a replacement for a notetaker
system, as it
is an interesting add-on for someone who owns a laptop, and
perhaps would be
carrying it anyway.
and if you're a passenger on a bus, in a taxi, or just being
given a ride by
a friend, and you're expected to provide directions, or know when
you're to
get off of the bus, then you can put the netbook or laptop on
your lap, and
have it give you the turn-by-turn directions you need to guide
your driver,
or tell you about upcoming stops on a bus.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: Tylers Scripting [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 5:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: re: looking for collaborators for a GPS project
Hi Chip,
Are you going to make little lanyards for us to hang our laptops
around our
neck?
How are you going to cary a laptop, a white cane, and whatever
else you're
carrying with two hands?
Tyler
----- Original Message -----
From: "Allison and Chip Orange"<[email protected]
To:<[email protected]
Date sent: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 17:13:01 -0500
Subject: looking for collaborators for a GPS project
Hi all,
some years ago I started a laptop-based GPS navigation project
for the
visually impaired. it was meant to be very similar in
functionality to
those published by sendero, except that it would run on laptops.
now we've
got netbooks to work with, and so it seems even more usable.
the project gets it's mapping data from Microsoft Mappoint, which
makes it
visible via an object model. it has data equivalent to that of
Sendero's
products, including millions of POIs, but it's not nearly so easy
to get at
for personal navigation purposes as I imagine Sendero's data
interface is,
so progress is slow. MapPoint is mostly designed to display
graphically
various datasets on top of street map data, and so some finesse
with the
object model is needed. any user of this system would need to
buy a copy of
MapPoint, which can be had for as little as $99 sometimes.
I had originally written it in visual foxpro, but MS has
abandoned (or "end
of lifed") that product.
anyway, I've started rewriting the project using vb script under
window
eyes, even though I know this will make it accessible to a lot
fewer people.
I made that decision mostly because I thought it would be the
fastest way
I'd be able to get a working project out the door, and users can
obtain a
free 90 day trial of MapPoint to try it out.
what's happened is that I've been hit by health problems, and I'm
not able
to dedicate much time to the project.
some version of it is working now; for instance, you can press a
"where am
I" key, and be told the nearest street address. a very basic
system is in
place for adding your own points of interest.
what I'm looking for is someone who is interested in GPS
navigation, and is
an experienced vb scripter, and who would like to come in as a
collaborator
on the project.
I have plans to add some features not found in Sendero's
products, just to
make it more useful, and I've made the GPS handling module a
shared object,
so that other programmers can possibly develop location-based
applications
or features in their projects.
If you have questions how about posting them here on the list if
you think
others may be interested in the answers, and if you'd like to
discuss being
a collaborator, write me off the list at my home address of
[email protected]
even if you're not interested in being a collaborator, I would
like to hear
>from those who think such a laptop/netbook solution would be a
good idea.
obviously, it's going to be harder to work with a laptop while
moving
around, and so thought will need to go into more automatic
functionality,
and means of interfacing with the program other than the
keyboard. I would
like to explore the free vista/windows 7 speech recognition for
instance.
thanks.
Chip
