Company announcements
Breakthrough innovation specialist Cambridge Consultants has partnered with Waymap to create a unique smartphone service that helps visually impaired people to navigate through complex indoor spaces, such as public transport hubs. The service provides audio instructions to help the user to reach their destination with accuracy to within a single footstep. Crucially, there is no dependency on unreliable GPS signals or requirement to install specialist navigation equipment. The ultimate mission is to provide independence, confidence and freedom of travel to millions of blind and visually impaired people.
One of the greatest sources of exclusion for blind and visually impaired people is the restricted social engagement that comes from limited travel. The key barrier to overcome is the fear of not being able to complete their journey or suddenly being dependent upon strangers for assistance. Many visually impaired people simply do not go out alone or limit themselves to a handful of routes that they know well. Cambridge Consultants and Waymap have developed a navigation tool that these users can rely on.
The core service consists of audio instructions from a smartphone. Dynamic routing gives the user the most up to date and relevant paths according to their needs. At the heart of the service is an advanced algorithm that locates people accurately without the need for specialist equipment or local infrastructure, such as Bluetooth beacons.
To speed up time to market, Cambridge Consultants licensed Trace, its indoor location IP, to Waymap, and worked in partnership to enhance and extend it for use on smartphones. Trace is a breakthrough in indoor location tracking using the tiny, low-cost inertial sensors found in smartphones, coupled with ingenious data fusion algorithms. Crucially, Trace is not reliant on external references or GPS. Cambridge Consultants developed bespoke algorithms that harness its deep understanding of inertial sensors and the mechanics of human motion, gained from extensive work in fitness technology development. The system aims to locate the user to within half a meter – a single step – a new and necessary level of accuracy needed in order to deliver reliable audio navigation.
Supporting comments:
Dr Tom Pey, RSBC Chief Executive and Waymap Chairman, said: “It’s fabulous that my earliest experimentation during the noughties, with the late Professor Peter Barker, using RFID and laptops to guide blind people along Oxford Street, has come to fruition in smartphone technology from Waymap that everyone can use. I’m truly excited by the prospect of making this available to visually impaired people everywhere”.
Dr Tim Murdoch, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Waymap, said “My own experience in creating M-PESA, mobile money for the unbanked in Africa, showed me the massive impact that digital technologies can have on social inclusion and the platform that advanced technology can provide for further innovation. I’m both thrilled and humbled to have another opportunity to make a real difference to peoples’ quality of life and to partner with Cambridge Consultants to create another platform for social innovation, at scale”.
Tim Fowler, Head of Wireless and Digital Services at Cambridge Consultants, said “We are delighted to support Waymap in their ambition to improve the lives of so many blind and visually impaired people. The new service will overcome the significant challenge of delivering highly accurate indoor navigation without the need for specialist infrastructure, blending our multidisciplinary expertise in AI, analytics and real-time data processing. This mix of technical innovation and real-world impact is just the type of project Cambridge Consultants thrives on”.
Notes to editors
About Waymap
Waymap helps its customers provide navigation, smart services and emergency assistance to travelers and visitors, including people with disabilities. Our ambition is that anyone with a smartphone can get about and travel independently, anywhere – as if they were a local. To make this possible, our technology requires only a smartphone.
Our primary focus is guiding those with vision impairment – the hardest of all possible use cases. What Waymap delivers is much more: A true platform for innovation – an audio-based augmented reality superpower that enables cities to deliver greater accessibility, better public transport and truly smart services.
Waymap’s founders combine blind charities, international standards and digital innovation at scale. We are a commercial technology company with an opportunity and an ambition to improve the lives of many millions of people around the world. For more information, visit: www.waymap.org.
About Cambridge Consultants and Capgemini
About Cambridge Consultants
Cambridge Consultants develops breakthrough products, services and intellectual property, and provides business consultancy in technology-critical issues for clients worldwide. For more than 60 years, the company has been helping its clients turn business opportunities into commercial successes, whether they are launching first-to-market products, entering new markets or expanding existing markets through the introduction of new technologies. With a team of more than 800 team members, including engineers, scientists, mathematicians and designers, in offices in Cambridge (UK), Boston (USA), Tokyo (Japan) and Singapore, Cambridge Consultants offers solutions across a diverse range of industries including medical technology, industrial and consumer products, digital health, energy and wireless communications.
About Capgemini Invent
As the digital innovation, design and transformation brand of the Capgemini Group, Capgemini Invent enables CxOs to envision and shape the future of their businesses. Located in nearly 40 studios and more than 60 offices around the world, it comprises a 10,000+ strong team of strategists, data scientists, product and experience designers, brand experts and technologists who develop new digital services, products, experiences and business models for sustainable growth.
Capgemini Invent is an integral part of Capgemini, a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of over 325,000 team members in more than 50 countries. With its strong 55-year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms. The Group reported in 2021 global revenues of €18 billion.
Get The Future You Want
Visit us at www.capgemini.com/invent
