BEACONS:NCCU student Wang I-fang said the app uses Bluetooth functions to notify visually impaired people when they reach a landmark they can identify

Student Wang I-fang, right, and a team member Chen Chien-hsing, left, present their BlindNavi mobile navigation app for visually impaired people at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

University students who won international design awards attended an event yesterday to showcase the Ministry of Education’s International Design Competition subsidy program.

A team of National Chengchi University (NCCU) and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology students took home the Red Dot Design Award’s Junior Prize in Germany, as well as 10,000 euros (US$10,449), for designing an app to be used by visually impaired people.

The prize was the biggest among student teams competing in the international competition.

NCCU student Wang I-fang (王奕方) said that the app allows visually impaired people to plan trips, save itineraries to the places they have visited and share them with their friends.

One of the app’s most distinctive features is that, rather than notifying visually impaired people that they have arrived at a road entrance or intersection, the app informs them when they have come to stores or landmarks, and tells them how to reach the next store or landmark en route to their destination, Wang said.

By incorporating stores on the way to their destinations, users can rely on information they gather through their other senses, such as the aroma of coffee shops and the sound of convenience store door chimes, to ensure that they are on the right track, she said.

With the help of Bluetooth positioning devices known as beacons, which her team deployed on designated routes at NCCU, users who helped test the app have navigated their way from the university’s gates to target buildings on campus, she said.

A challenge facing the design is that beacons are not widely used by government agencies when they create infrastructure for those with sight issues.

Wang called on the Taipei City Government to consider deploying beacons widely, as Taipei is poised to become the friendliest municipality to physically challenged, adding that infrastructure in place to guide visually impaired people is sometimes confusing and inconsistent, such as alarms at pedestrian crossings and the material used to make special tiles on sidewalks.

Department of Higher Education division head Lee Hui-min (李慧敏) said that Wang’s team received NT$250,000 (US$7,744) in prize money for winning the award.

The ministry allocates between NT$4 million and NT$5 million every year to hold domestic design competitions and issue prize money to students who win design competitions overseas, she said.

The budget is also used by the K-12 Education Administration to hold workshops and forums at the National Library of Public Information in Taichung, which feature internationally renowned designers, she said.

To boost international exchanges in art and design, the ministry provides NT$30 million per year to send 20 students to participate in overseas internship programs, she said, adding that in return, the students are required to attend news conferences held by the ministry to share what they have learned.

Source: http://taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/12/28/2003662062