Meet brings people together – literally. It has been designed to give people with disabilities greater confidence and freedom and somewhere to sit – with others.
In a world-first approach Meet combines a complement of inclusive technologies that help make CBD footpaths and public spaces safer, more accessible and welcoming. And, hopefully, make people proud of their City. This version of Meet has been specially designed for all those who find everyday city navigation challenging
Meet draws on our family experiences of disability.
Aunty Elizabeth gained independence from childhood polio through mechanical innovation. Callipers to reach her modified Hillman Hunter – with its column-shift ‘foot pedals’ giving her the freedom to drive.
Elements include:
- BlindSquare
- What3Words
- HelloLampPost and
- Wayfi (our Google Lens AR integration).
Daniel So has designed the modular suite with:
- full DDA compliance
- motion activated footpath safety lighting – integrated solar slat
- mobile phone charging
- roadside air quality alerts (via app) and – event flagging
This will be supported by our first ‘Meets’ Dashboard allowing:
- people to find each other more conveniently throughout the city
- greater choice of pre-planned – or on the run- meeting points with
- destination & enroute resting points.
This engineering plus technology suite provides wide ranging help:
- Meet Beacons will work with BlindSquare to provide accurate sitting points and ‘facing’ details on footpaths.
- In helping navigate pedestrian congestion Meet will prove both a trustworthy data resource and a resting place at a compliant and familiar height. Meet provides necessary respite and technology for further navigation – especially at bus and tram stops.
- Meet + BlindSquare/What3Words will ensure that no city opportunities are missed
- What3Word addresses will be used at all Meet sites and will include Braille embossing
- BlindSquare is also about having fun. To this end we will be exploring integrations between BlindSquare and HelloLampPost (see below & attached).
- ‘Wayfi’ will also provide 2 things –
- Visual cues – a way to collect information from hundreds of ‘city frames’ providing useful consistently recognizable information points allowing navigation to events for sighted and the vision impaired
- Audio cues – “micro-navigation” Beacon information will lead the traveller closer to the bus stop. Now, on approach, the person with a disability can discover important information on the location of a rubbish bin on the right or the location of Meet on the left
We’re proud of this project and really hope it makes life easier for people living with all type’s of disability.
