Re: Update To: Please Help Bring VoiceOver Accessibility Back to A T T Navigator
Hi, Mark. My wife, Denise, has been using ATANDT navigator for a couple of years now, actu'y three, and likes it better than navigon, or even Seeing Eye Gps. Its good to know that the developers are so responsive to consumers. Brian On May 2, 2014, at 1:17 AM, M. Taylor mk...@ucla.edu wrote: Hello Everyone, I am delighted to tell you that: 1. In response to VoiceOver accessibility requests, I received two telephone calls from the developers of A T T Navigator both apologizing for the lack of VOiceOver accessibility in the current version of the app and to assure me that this oversight will definitely be corrected in future releases. Actually, the conversations were somewhat more involved but that was the bottom-line. I have every confidence in A T T/TeleNav's commitment to accessibility. Our email requests for VoiceOver accessibility do, indeed, make a difference so if you have not yet sent a request, please consider doing so. 2. Unexpectedly, I needed to provide driving directions to an unfamiliar area of West Los Angeles/Beverly Hills, today. As it turns out, there is just enough VoiceOver accessibility to those who are long-time A T T Navigator subscribers to use the app. Now I want to be perfectly honest, in its most recent release, I cannot recommend A T T Navigator to any blind or low vision traveler. However, if one has already updated to the most recent version, searching for POIs and launching turn-by-turn directions is possible if not at all convenient. Please keep in mind that I've been using this app for the past 4 years and spent over six hours yesterday learning my way around the latest version, such as it is, making use of my residual vision, as much as possible. Frequently, I am asked why I am a proponent of an off-the-shelf software GPS solution that cost $9.95 per month which, previous to the most recent release, offered, at most, moderate VoiceOver accessibility. Rarely have I been able to justify my devotion to those who have not spent any time getting to know the app. However, today, in the most recent release, a new feature should help my argument for Navigator, in the future. As mentioned in my previous post on this subject, this is one of the new features that is completely VoiceOver accessible. So, Here's how it works. Once you set a destination or select any address or point-of-interest, you can share this location either before or during navigation. What's the big deal, right? Well, when you share the POI with anyone, be they an A T T Navigator subscriber or not, be they on iOS or not, as long as their mobile device has some kind of connection to the Internet and a GPS receiver, when they click on the imbedded link that they received either via SMS or email, they will be taken to a page where all they need do is to tap an onscreen button to get automatic voice-guided turn-by-turn directions from their current location using A T T's superior voice quality and mapping technology. For all you nay-sayers, I want to make it clear that this is not a advertising gimmick for A T T; they don't install any kind of weird software on your phone or do any kind of data mining. This is, according to the company, a way of demonstrating to non-Navigator travelers the benefits of subscribing to Navigator. I sent three POIs to three different people today, all of whom were using different operating systems, two not having ever used GPS navigation. All three reported outstanding navigation performance. Now the three people with whom I conducted this test were all sighted so I do not know how well VoiceOver would work with this external version of Navigator in the iOS version of Safari. I will keep you posted on any VoiceOver accessibility improvements as I learn them. Thank you all for your support. Most Sincerely, Mark Original Message: Please Help Bring VoiceOver Accessibility Back to A T T Navigator Hello Everyone, The Most Recent Version of A T T Navigator, version 3.2.25, is a mixed bag of good and bad. Today, A T T posted the latest version of its GPS software navigation solution, A T T Navigator version 3.2.25, to the Apple App Store. Regrettably, I must report that, while this completely redesigned GPS navigation solution offers dazzling new features such as the ability to, while navigating, send real-time up-to-date estimated times of arrival (via either email or SMS) to any recipient, the ability to share POI details with anyone including non-A T T Navigator travelers, the ability to search for incidental and/or specific POIs while navigating, etc, it has broken many of the core Navigator VoiceOver accessible controls such as the ability to use the groundbreaking A T T Navigator VoiceSearch feature (arguably the best feature of the app), the ability to review, via VoiceOver of course, the VoiceSearch results list of points-of-interest
Update To: Please Help Bring VoiceOver Accessibility Back to A T T Navigator
Hello Everyone, I am delighted to tell you that: 1. In response to VoiceOver accessibility requests, I received two telephone calls from the developers of A T T Navigator both apologizing for the lack of VOiceOver accessibility in the current version of the app and to assure me that this oversight will definitely be corrected in future releases. Actually, the conversations were somewhat more involved but that was the bottom-line. I have every confidence in A T T/TeleNav's commitment to accessibility. Our email requests for VoiceOver accessibility do, indeed, make a difference so if you have not yet sent a request, please consider doing so. 2. Unexpectedly, I needed to provide driving directions to an unfamiliar area of West Los Angeles/Beverly Hills, today. As it turns out, there is just enough VoiceOver accessibility to those who are long-time A T T Navigator subscribers to use the app. Now I want to be perfectly honest, in its most recent release, I cannot recommend A T T Navigator to any blind or low vision traveler. However, if one has already updated to the most recent version, searching for POIs and launching turn-by-turn directions is possible if not at all convenient. Please keep in mind that I've been using this app for the past 4 years and spent over six hours yesterday learning my way around the latest version, such as it is, making use of my residual vision, as much as possible. Frequently, I am asked why I am a proponent of an off-the-shelf software GPS solution that cost $9.95 per month which, previous to the most recent release, offered, at most, moderate VoiceOver accessibility. Rarely have I been able to justify my devotion to those who have not spent any time getting to know the app. However, today, in the most recent release, a new feature should help my argument for Navigator, in the future. As mentioned in my previous post on this subject, this is one of the new features that is completely VoiceOver accessible. So, Here's how it works. Once you set a destination or select any address or point-of-interest, you can share this location either before or during navigation. What's the big deal, right? Well, when you share the POI with anyone, be they an A T T Navigator subscriber or not, be they on iOS or not, as long as their mobile device has some kind of connection to the Internet and a GPS receiver, when they click on the imbedded link that they received either via SMS or email, they will be taken to a page where all they need do is to tap an onscreen button to get automatic voice-guided turn-by-turn directions from their current location using A T T's superior voice quality and mapping technology. For all you nay-sayers, I want to make it clear that this is not a advertising gimmick for A T T; they don't install any kind of weird software on your phone or do any kind of data mining. This is, according to the company, a way of demonstrating to non-Navigator travelers the benefits of subscribing to Navigator. I sent three POIs to three different people today, all of whom were using different operating systems, two not having ever used GPS navigation. All three reported outstanding navigation performance. Now the three people with whom I conducted this test were all sighted so I do not know how well VoiceOver would work with this external version of Navigator in the iOS version of Safari. I will keep you posted on any VoiceOver accessibility improvements as I learn them. Thank you all for your support. Most Sincerely, Mark Original Message: Please Help Bring VoiceOver Accessibility Back to A T T Navigator Hello Everyone, The Most Recent Version of A T T Navigator, version 3.2.25, is a mixed bag of good and bad. Today, A T T posted the latest version of its GPS software navigation solution, A T T Navigator version 3.2.25, to the Apple App Store. Regrettably, I must report that, while this completely redesigned GPS navigation solution offers dazzling new features such as the ability to, while navigating, send real-time up-to-date estimated times of arrival (via either email or SMS) to any recipient, the ability to share POI details with anyone including non-A T T Navigator travelers, the ability to search for incidental and/or specific POIs while navigating, etc, it has broken many of the core Navigator VoiceOver accessible controls such as the ability to use the groundbreaking A T T Navigator VoiceSearch feature (arguably the best feature of the app), the ability to review, via VoiceOver of course, the VoiceSearch results list of points-of-interest (POIs), the ability to configure the app's settings, and more. Even worse, with this release, many of the app's basic controls are either no longer VoiceOver accessible or no longer properly labeled. Coincidentally, many of the new features, including those listed above are completely VoiceOver accessible. I am posting this here to request your support in my effort to compel A T T to
