Blind hikers use app to cross mountains

FIVE blind or partially sighted hikers have managed to cross the Vosges mountain range in France armed only with white canes and a new app on their smartphones.

The Navi’Rando app works like a normal navigation device, except that it offers detailed voice instructions.

The hikers followed its guidance across the Vosges, walking 50 miles in six days.

The app told them exactly how to follow the pathways across the mountains and through the forests. A typical audio instruction advised turning left in the direction of “11 o’clock” after 200 metres.

Jean-Claude Heim, 63, one of the hikers, said: “The thing that’s still difficult is using the cane to locate the exact direction of the trail.” But he told Agence France Presse that he still enjoyed “everything the countryside has to offer: the smells, the sensation of touch, the rain, the sound of the birds”.

Nicolas Linder, 30, another hiker, said: “It’s fantastic to rediscover your sense of freedom.”

Devices like Navi’Rando are increasingly used to make life easier for the visually impaired and allow them a greater sense of independence. An ambitious cross-country journey, like the one completed by the party of five, was a crucial test for the app.

The system, developed by a team at Strasbourg University, uses “inertial measurement units” to improve the GPS signal. It constantly recalculates the itinerary to compensate for errors.

However, the system still depends on a GPS signal. The next aim is to develop the app so that it could work anywhere, including, for example, inside an underground station.