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Making the World More Accessible One Place at a Time – Indoor and Outdoor Navigation app in the Palm of Your Hand GoodMaps CEO, Jose Gaztambide, and Chief Evangelist, Mike May, joins Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about the new app GoodMaps Explore. An indoor and outdoor navigation app on iOS and soon to be on Android. With outdoor navigation being available through various GPS apps and map apps, American Printing House for the Blind formed GoodMaps in an effort to take on the challenges of indoor navigation. With breakthrough technology, Jose and Mike joined Blind Abilities to give an overview of the technology and prospects of the GoodMaps Explore app. The key to this advancement is GoodMaps’ revolutionary indoor positioning system, which combines Augmented Reality and sensors on a device with a new system developed by Fantasmo, a GoodMaps partner. GoodMaps Explore is a mobile navigation app that gives a complete picture of your surrounding environment indoors and outdoors. Built from the ground up with visual impairment in mind, Explore is optimized for on-screen gestures with Apple’s VoiceOver. Explore provides you with environmental information as you move through an Indoor Venue or while outdoors. While using the GoodMaps Explorer app outdoors, Explore will notify you of your direction, nearest address, cross street, and nearby Points of Interests, (POI). At any time, how-to tutorials are available on the “More” page. Happy navigating! For more information about GoodMaps and to Contact GoodMaps, Check out the GoodMaps News Release on the GoodMaps website.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® Foundation announced the selection of five winners for its CES® 2020 Eureka Park Accessibility Contest. Access Explorer, along with the other winners Intuition Robotics, Loro, Mieron and TranslateLive, was awarded for being a startup designing CAVU (now renamed to GoodMaps Explore), an application for both iOS and Android devices, to provide navigation in indoor environments for people with disabilities and older adults with age-related disabilities, with the aim to alleviate the common accessibility gaps present in indoor navigation. “This year’s collection of entries was among the strongest we have seen since we started the competition five years ago,” said Henry Chiarelli principal, Chiarelli and Associates, CTA Foundation Trustee and one of the judges of the Eureka Park contest. “The winners this year represent a truly unique cross section of innovative and creative technology solutions focused on quality of life issues, enabling people of all ages and abilities to live independently. We look forward to celebrating their work at CES 2020. About the Eureka Park Accessibility Contest The CES Eureka Park Accessibility Contest showcases innovative technologies that are changing the way people work, live and play regardless of age or disability. Our application provides accurate indoor and outdoor information and navigation for people who are blind or visually impaired. We utilizes a couple of bluetooth beacons and camera-based positioning (CPS), which uses geo-referenced images to determine a user’s position. Users can shake their phone to hear a snapshot of their current location, including current direction, nearest room, street, or points of interest (POI). Users can also follow a route to a destination in mapped indoor spaces. Another great feature is the ability to hear automatic location notifications like street names, restaurants, parks, and shops outdoors along with office spaces, reception areas, water fountains and restrooms indoors. Visit Access Explorer at CES 2020 in Booth number #51122 in the Sand Expo, Level 1, Hall G. Access Explorer team Booth at Eureka Park CES 2020

GoodMaps, experts and innovators in accessible navigation and wayfinding, partners with the CNIB Foundation, Canada’s largest non-profit serving people with sight loss. GoodMaps Explore, unveiled earlier this month, is an accessible wayfinding app designed primarily for people who are blind or partially sighted. Drawing upon GoodMaps’ state-of-the-art digital maps, the app uses audio instructions to communicate routing and critical spatial information as users move through indoor or outdoor environments. quote “From the moment we began conversations with CNIB, it was clear that we shared a vision for drastically increasing the footprint of accessible buildings and overcoming the historical hurdles of accessible navigation,” says Jose Gaztambide, Founder and CEO of GoodMaps. “CNIB believes, as we do, in leveraging the latest technology to offer an extraordinary navigation and wayfinding experience for clients.” In the past, indoor navigation for people with sight loss has often been imprecise and has typically relied on expensive, burdensome infrastructure. But GoodMaps Explore starts with laser mapping of the environment, then draws upon camera-based positioning (CPS), a breakthrough technology that utilizes sensors in a device’s camera to achieve superior accuracy with minimal hardware. quote “We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with GoodMaps,” says Shane Silver, Vice President of Social Enterprises for the CNIB Foundation. “This innovation represents a significant breakthrough in accessible indoor navigation and accuracy. The introduction of GoodMaps across the country will help ensure that Canadians with sight loss have greater access to more buildings and venues than ever before.” About Goodmaps Founded in 2019 and an affiliate of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH), GoodMaps (formerly Access Explorer) is a Louisville-based social enterprise dedicated to making buildings more accessible, safe, and productive through the use of digital indoor maps. For more information, go to the GoodMaps Website or Contact Us. About CNIB The CNIB Foundation is a non-profit organization driven to change what it is to be blind today. We deliver innovative programs and powerful advocacy that empower Canadians impacted by blindness to live their dreams while tearing down barriers to inclusion. Our work as a blind foundation is powered by a network of volunteers, donors and partners in communities across Canada. For more information, please contact: Alison Byczok, Director, Marketing and Communications 416-272-0464 | alison.byczok@cnib.ca

Mike May, a pioneer in accessible navigation, joined the Access Explorer Team (an incorporated company owned by American Printing House for the Blind. May brings experience that will help the company continue to lead the way in accessible navigation. “Mike has more than 25 years of experience in accessible indoor wayfinding and literally originated this effort in the US. There is nobody with more experience or passion for accessible indoor navigation than Mike,” says Access Explorer CEO, Jose Gaztambide. “He’s an incredible leader and human being. Everybody at Access Explorer and in the indoor navigation industry will benefit from his commitment and presence.” Mike will help Access Explorer develop partnerships, identify resources to help expand its mission, and ensure Access Explorer’s work meets the highest standard of accessibility. “I’ve been learning how to navigate since I was blinded from an explosion at age 3. I have worked on accessible navigation as a profession since the mid 90s,” explains May. “The timing for indoor navigation to be adopted by the public is now – it’s the newest frontier. I believe Access Explorer is poised to make sure accessibility is part of that breakthrough. I look forward to being part of this important mission.” The Nearby Explorer app was created by the non-profit, American Printing House for the Blind (APH). For 161 years APH has developed products for people who are blind and visually impaired. As the popularity of Nearby Explorer grew, APH saw the need to take the app and concept to the next level. In March of this year, after a period of studying the business need and feasibility, and developing unique approaches to solving the obstacles to indoor navigation, APH formed the new for-profit corporation: Access Explorer, Inc. later changed to GoodMaps.