This new segment will shine a spotlight on one of our 460 member organisations that are making a difference in the lives of people with disability.
If you’re one of our 460 members and you’d like us to highlight the work your organisation’s efforts to make your workplace more accessible and inclusive, please contact Clara Pirani at clara.pirani@ausdn.org.au.
This month we’re delighted to showcase one of our gold members, Australia Post, which recently partnered with Bindi Maps to launch the world’s first accessible indoor navigation system with an incredible accuracy of just 30 centimetres.
BindiMaps new “Hyperlocal” technology, originally developed to help people with vision impairment, can be used by anyone to navigate complex indoor spaces including train stations, airports, shopping centres, hospitals, and office buildings.
It’s estimated that only 2 percent of BindiMaps users are currently blind, demonstrating its usefulness to a far broader population.
Australia Post has rolled out the new technology at its Collins Street West GPO in Melbourne and its Kent St GPO in Sydney. BindiMaps will also be rolled out in Australia Post’s new Williamstown Community Hub when it opens later this year.
The technology will guide Australia Post customers from the entrance of the post office through to retail counters, as well as towards post offices, parcel lockers, and individual items in the store – even small items such as envelopes and stamps.
Josh Bannister, Executive General Manager Retail, Brand and Marketing at Australia Post, said: “Australia Post is committed to improving the accessibility of our retail stores and it’s important to us that all customers are able to navigate our Post Offices easily and independently. The introduction of this technology is a great opportunity for us to test and learn how we can support the vision impaired community, as part of our commitment to innovation and modernising our Post Offices.”
Hyperlocal will replace BindiMaps’ existing Bluetooth beacon system, allowing building managers and owners to roll it out at 24 times the speed (from 24 hours down to 1 hour), with no disruption to building occupants and without altering the space itself.
This means it can be installed in all indoor spaces of any size, shape, or type globally including retrofit and non-traditional spaces such as heritage-listed sites, landmark architectural buildings, parking lots, tiny shop fronts, parks, temporary outdoor event spaces, and more.
In contrast to existing wayfinding systems such as Ultra Wide Band, Hyperlocal maps spaces by taking a GoPro video and using it to create a 3D digital model in the cloud.
This 3D digital model, along with the phone’s camera and sensors, and machine learning, then accurately locates users and navigates them to their destination.
The existing app and navigation products had already been successfully rolled out across numerous transport hubs, hospitals, offices, and other locations in Australia and internationally.
These include the Sunshine Coast Airport, St Vincent’s Hospital, ACT Courts and Budapest Airport where it’s currently used by tens of thousands of users of all abilities every year.
Anna Wright, founder & CEO of BindiMaps, said: “Access to the built environment, in all its complex and dynamic forms, is one of the largest barriers for people with disabilities to participate equally in society. So we applaud Australia Post for its commitment to helping create a more inclusive society by partnering with us on our new technology.
“But we’ve all been very lost at many points in our lives, including at critical or stressful times like trying to find a small exam room in a large and complex university, or the location of a loved one in a seemingly endless maze of hospital beds.
“Hyperlocal will make it faster, cheaper, and easier to BindiMap-enable almost any location globally. This is great news for building owners and managers of all types of buildings large and small, as it will allow them to achieve their accessibility goals faster, and without disruption.”