Google Maps Adds Enhanced Guidance for People With Impaired Vision (and Everyone Else)

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Navigating from Point A to Point B is much easier when you get directions from Google Maps. With a new feature called Detailed Voice Guidance, Google Maps can make navigating much easier for those with impaired vision. And this new feature may prove helpful for everyone who uses Google Maps.

Developed with the help of Wakana Sugiyama, a legally blind Google employee in Tokyo, Detailed Voice Guidance enhances the spoken instructions provided by Google Maps when you get walking directions. Intended to help the 36 million people worldwide who are legally blind, as well as the 217 million more who have impaired vision, Detailed Voice Guidance gives more information to help people be sure they are on the proper path and to help guide them more safely.

Sugiyama was inspired to develop Detailed Voice Guidance due to the challenges she faces trying to navigate the streets of Tokyo as a legally blind pedestrian. She has been able to walk familiar routes, such as her commute to work, without assistance. But if she were to go to an unfamiliar place she would usually ask a friend to accompany her. If no friends were available, she often would choose not to go.

Detailed Voice Guidance was released by Google Maps on October 10 in honor of World Sight Day. In a Google Blog post announcing the new feature Sugiyama explained, “Frequent updates like these not only help a visually impaired person get from A to B, they can also give us more confidence and reassurance when we travel alone. With detailed voice guidance in Google Maps, my journey fades into the background and I can focus more on what I’ll do at my final destination. This may not sound extraordinary to those with sight, but for people who are blind or have low vision, this can help us explore new and unfamiliar places.”

This video from Google featuring Sugiyama shows how Detailed Voice Guidance can help people with vision challenges navigate better:

Also see => Google Maps Now Shows Wheelchair Accessible Routes in Major Cities

With Detailed Voice Guidance, Google Maps can warn you to use extra caution when you’re crossing a large street. It can confirm that you are on the correct route and announce when you are being re-routed because you’ve veered in a different direction.  The enhanced navigation instructions can tell you which direction you’re walking and how far until the next turn.

Detailed Voice Guidance Can Help Anyone

Detailed Voice Guidance can help anyone navigate better including those who don’t have impaired vision. Sugiyama compares the additional spoken information provided by Detailed Voice Guidance to a stop being announced on a train or a subway. Hearing more information can help you use your eyes to take in the world around you, instead of using them to stare at a screen.

How to Use Detailed Voice Guidance in Google Maps

Detailed Voice Guidance must be turned on in the Google Maps app. Open the app, then tap the three stacked lines to show the menu. Go to Settings => Navigation, then scroll to the bottom to find Detailed Voice Guidance.

Turn on the switch to use Detailed Voice Guidance when you get walking directions using Google Maps.

Availability

Detailed Voice Guidance is rolling out in the Google Maps app for Android and iOS (iPhone). Initially, Detailed Voice Guidance will be available in English in the U.S and Japanese in Japan.

Google Maps plans to expand Detailed Voice Guidance to more languages and countries in the future.

Your Thoughts

Do you like the idea of having enhanced navigation instructions with Detailed Voice Guidance on Google Maps? Do you think this new feature will be helpful to those who are vision-impaired and to those who aren’t? Will you be using Detailed Voice Guidance when you get walking directions from Google Maps?