Ah, campus life. Dormitories, dining halls, and...GPS? The newest school staple for co-eds with vision loss is a talking Global Positioning System (GPS). Some of you readers might not be familiar with GPS, how it works, or its level of effectiveness so you should read AccessWorld®'s—AFB's online technology magazine—review< of Sendero GPS 3.5 for BrailleNote. Now, back to school. Florida State University recently completed mapping its campus so that various important spots can be picked up by the electronic tracking tool. Hmmm...I wonder if this includes all the party spots. In order to use these systems, students must have upgraded Braille Note notetakers which are basically small computers with a one-line Braille display and a Braille-input keypad. Then they can just attach the GPS to their Braille Notes and they're off. I can only imagine how great this is for student's confidence, independence, and sense of belonging. Lets just hope it spreads to campuses across the country.
