Hi-tech helping hand lets blind take a walk on the wild side

THERE are hundreds of pedestrians scurrying between shops on Princes Street as Edinburgh kicks into its early morning hustle and bustle.

Traffic roars in the background as buses and taxis fly past The Balmoral hotel and grind to a screeching halt.

But amongst the commotion a strange array of synthetic sounds and squeaks are coming from a group of American tourists standing outside Princes Mall.

To the casual onlooker, they must look like any other group of tourists who have come to the Capital for a spot of sightseeing - albeit a group making some fairly peculiar noises.

But a second glance at the white canes they are holding in front of them as they begin to walk down the street is enough to confirm that they are a group of blind tourists. A group that seem to know exactly where they are going and do not need any directions from the scores of people passing by.

It may seem odd, if not a little dangerous, for such a party of people to be wandering the streets of Edinburgh, but the gurgles and blips coming from the laptop-style consoles slung around their shoulders are the reason why they look so sure-footed.

For each of them is using a revolutionary new global positioning system (GPS) which is telling them exactly where they are, what landmarks are around them and where they are going.

The GPS receivers are located in a strap over their shoulders, each receiver connected to a laptop-style computer which hangs from their sides. Using satellite positions, the computers are able to tell each user - through a process of synthetic, "computer" speech that sounds much like the system used by Professor Steven Hawking - about their current position and which direction they need to be heading in order to get to their chosen destination.

They even give each user the opportunity to plot their own walking routes around the area they are in, as well as allowing them to add the locations of tourist attractions, pubs and restaurants to a database.

There are only around 1000 users of the system at the moment but they are all adding information on many cities, not just Edinburgh, all the time. That central database means that someone buying one today - the whole package of GPS and PC costs around £1700 and is available in Britain from UK distributors Pulse Data - can benefit from information put in previously by others.

And, according to 29-year-old Jason Fayre, who is taking me through the streets with the group, it is a system which has made tourism and general mobility far easier for blind people.

"It isn’t intended to turn you into a blind robot," he says as we wait outside The Balmoral hotel for the rest of his group, who have gone off to buy chocolate from Thorntons. "But it certainly helps you get to the place you’re looking for. A blind person is still going to need a seeing-eye dog or a cane to feel where they are going, but the GPS system helps them to work out where they want to go without having to ask people."

"It’s usually hard for a blind or partially sighted person to ask for directions," adds Mike May, the leader of the tourists who has spent more than ten years creating the technology and is based in San Francisco. "Because people instinctively say stuff like ‘you need to turn left at this place’ or ‘just keep going until you see this monument’, it’s really difficult to work out where you’re going when you’re blind.

"This system gives you detailed instructions of how to get to a certain place and keeps telling you the names of streets and landmarks you pass on the way. It’s kind of a travel guide, really, but you can also leave your own recommendations and directions on it. If you find somewhere interesting, or come across a good bar, then you can log its co-ordinates into the computer."

He points out that each computer has either a Braille or standard keyboard attached to it, into which the user can type commands or notes. He adds that some of the group, such as Jason, are so used to the system they have it set at a very high speed and it simply sounds like a series of crackles and screeches to the untrained ear. Jason, who has been blind since birth, grins and adds that he’ll turn it down so I can clearly hear the machine directions when they start walking again. He and his wife Lalene have asked me if I want to walk "blind" beside him to experience what it does, and I have, somewhat hastily, agreed. I promise to keep my eyes shut as I cling on to Jason’s sleeve and let him lead me down the street.

As we walk, I strain to hear the "Waverley Bridge... left... 20ft" commands coming from his computer and soon find myself being led across a busy road.

I quickly lose all sense of direction or distance as we pass an over-exuberant piper on a street corner and, after what seems like an eternity, I am finally led up a narrow spiral staircase before being told to open my eyes.

Expecting to be halfway towards Corstorphine, I’m surprised to find out I’m on the top deck of a tour bus which is stopped not more than a few hundred feet from where we started. Jason says he found the whole "blind leading the blind" thing fairly amusing, but adds that, although I might not have much of an idea how to use the system, at least I know what it does now.

AS we head out past Queens Street Gardens and on to Dundas Street, he adds that, although the technology is relatively new, he is hoping to teach more people back in Colorado - where he works as a technology instructor at a centre for the blind - how to use it and that he also hopes it will become popular in Britain.

It strikes me as slightly odd that a group of blind people are paying for an open-top "sightseeing" tour and I ask him why they are going around famous landmarks and tourist attractions in Edinburgh, when the majority of them are blind or partially sighted. After all, his fellow companions wouldn’t be able to actually see the Capital’s landmarks such as the Castle, Holyrood Palace and the new Scottish Parliament, would they? He agrees that it may seem strange, but explains they are able to enjoy the experience of exploring the city without necessarily being able to appreciate the sight of it.

"We’re all able to go off and do whatever we want to do thanks to this technology, and the fact that we can keep in touch with each other through the radios means that we can hook back up at any time.

"Some of us might want to do some shopping, whilst others in the group may want to go find a good pub or restaurant. We’re able to tell where we’re going and find our way to wherever we want to go to.

"It’s pretty useful for finding where everyone else in the group is too. Yesterday, some of us found a really good pub and called the others over the radios, telling them to meet us. We logged our location into the computer and the others were able to find us by using those co-ordinates. We probably found each other more easily than normally sighted people would have done." The bus takes us past the Royal Botanic Garden and down to the shore before heading over towards Ocean Terminal and Jason’s computer keeps calling out street names and positions to him.

At one point he tells me that the bus is travelling at just over 18 miles an hour and a few minutes later, when we are stuck at traffic lights, he informs me that there is a Bank of Scotland around the corner - both of which are correct pieces of information that the console has just told him about.

"It’s pretty cool you can find the nearest bank through the GPS system," he says before dutifully logging the position of Ocean Terminal into the machine through his Braille keyboard. "It makes life so much easier."

After travelling past the new parliament, we disembark at South Bridge and make our way up to The Mitre pub on the High Street - which Jason has already logged into his computer when we rode past it on the bus - to meet the rest of the group for lunch.

As I walk away I wonder whether this new technology could be used to improve the life of blind people living in Scotland, as well as a way of promoting the Capital to blind or partially sighted tourists.

Gordon Mathieson, from the Royal National Institute of the Blind Scotland, says that GPS systems could have the "opportunity to transform lives" if they were promoted to blind people in Edinburgh.

He adds: "For a relatively small amount of money, people with sight problems could be able to regain a small amount of independence with this technology.

"It makes very good sense for the Scottish Executive and local authorities to promote and fund the expansion of the GPS system, as it could enable blind people to walk about safely and with more confidence.

"A guide dog or cane can’t tell you what shop you’re going into or what landmark you are facing, but this technology can and it has the capacity to transform many lives throughout Scotland."

A spokesman for VisitScotland adds: "The new satellite system creates an invaluable link to partially sighted tourists and helps them take full advantage of the fantastic atmosphere and culture Edinburgh has to offer."