Introduction

Seeing Assistant Move is created for people with visual impairment to help then with pedestrian navigation. Application allows you to get your current position, including street address, to get information about immediate area (Open Street Map), to manage your own points, manage routes, create automatic routes navigate to the chosen point or along selected route, and to share created data with other users. The most notable innovation in Seeing Assistant Move is ability to control program using voice commands. You can reach your target easier and safer thanks to that.

Using the application

Seeing Assistant Move interface consists of four screens: Home, Points, More and Settings. You can use tabs, located at the bottom of the screen, to switch between those screens. You can either use on-screen keyboard or voice to enter the text in all places you need to provide some text. To enter the text using your voice use “Dictate” button, located on the right, just above the on-screen keyboard. All the gesture descriptions only apply to iOS system with VoiceOver turned on. Seeing Assistant Move does not include speech synthesis. You need to have VoiceOver or Zoom in your iOS device if you want to use Seeing Assistant Move in voice mode. You can hear message you had troubles understanding again by using button “Repeat messages” placed in top left corner of the screen.

Weather

Seeing Assistant Move allows you to check weather at your position. After choosing option “Weather” from the "More" screen you will get the current weather and the forecast for the next two days. You will also get the lowest and highest temperature, the expected level of clouds, strength and direction of the wind. Weather data is provided by OpenWeatherMap.org

You need working internet connection to use “Weather” function.

Databases of points

You can use both points from external sources and user-generated points in Seeing Assistant Move. You can import points from Loadstone GPS program, OpenStreetMap project or Google Maps. Seeing Assistant Move contains few databases with POI (Points Of Interest) from capitals by default. Application allows downloading of databases with points from selected countries. Those databases were created with data from OpenStreetMap and shared via service at Geofabrik (© Geofabrik GmbH and OpenStreetMap Contributors, ODbL licence). In order to download database you have to choose option “Databases list” from the “Points” screen, then use button “Actions” to choose “Download database”. List of availble to download databases will be displayed divided into continents and countries. After choosing desired database it will be downloaded and available in “Databases list”.

Acquiring and importing databases

You can find databases with points on various sites. UMP project is used by Loadstone users and contains POI for various regions of Poland. Seeing Assistant Move allows for importing text databases prepared from this project (text databases). There are also binary databases prepared specially for Seeing Assistant Move available at Seeing Assistant Move databases. The method of adding these binary databases to the application using Dropbox service is described in the section “Sharing Points”. There are two possibilities to import text databases into Seeing Assistant Move: using iTunes application or Dropbox.

Option one - import text database using iTunes:

1. Connect your iOS device to a computer
2. Start iTunes application.
3. Select your device in iTunes, and choose “Programs” option.
4. Select Seeing Assistant Move from the list of programs able to transfer data between device and computer.
5. Select button “Add”. It will allow for selecting files from disk to transfer to Seeing Assistant Move.
6. Select “Apply” to synchronize device with iTunes, transferring selected files to the device.
7. Transferred files will be shown in database list after you run Seeing Assistant Move again.

Option two - import text database using Dropbox:

1. Connect the application to the Dropbox service as described in the section "Cloud backup".
2. On Dropbox account paste database file into folder Dropbox/Apps/SeeingAssistant-Move/import.
3. Using Seeing Assistant Move choose option “Settings/Dropbox/Import text databases”.
4. In the list of files select database file, which was loaded earlier and use the button "Download".
5. File will be downloaded and available in database list “Points/Bases list”.

Supported formats of text databases are:

• XML OSM – file format of the OpenStreetMap project
• LSDB – file format of the Loadstone application
• KML – file format used in Google Earth, Google Maps
• KMZ – zipped KML file
• TXT.zip – zipped text file of the Loadstone format
• OSM.zip – zipped file of the OpenStreetMap project

Warning: Transferred databases should be in text format!

Selecting databases

Choose Points screen using tab button located at the bottom of the screen, and then choose option “Databases list” to get list of available databases. You can then select databases to enable or disable them, or to delete database from the application.

Searching databases

Choose Home screen using tab button at the bottom of the screen and choose “Find in databases” to look for points in the active database. Type words you want to find in the window that appears on the screen. You can enter multiple words; program will look for all of them, but they do not need to be in the order you entered them to be found. You can either use on-screen keyboard or voice to enter searched phrase. Use “Dictate” button, located on the right, just above on-screen keyboard to enter text using your voice. You will get list of points matching given criteria or information that no point was found. Seeing Assistant Move looks for points from active database in limited radius. You can change search radius on the screen Settings using option “Finding radius”.

Routes

Seeing Assistant Move allows for creation of two kinds or routes. Automatic routes are created by tracing your movement. User routes are based only on points from databases and created locations.

Automatic routes

Choose Points screen using tab button on the bottom of the screen and choose “Record Route” to create automatic route. You will be asked for the name of the newly created route. The default name will be the current date and time. You can enter a new name using either on-screen keyboard to write the name, or “Dictate” button to dictate the name. Seeing Assistant Move will start registering new route after you tap “Ready” button at the bottom of the screen. You will get the message about start of registering new automatic route. You can stop registering of automatic route by using option “Finish recording route” on tab Points. Points in the automatic route are created using time interval. You can choose that time interval using option “Recording interval” on screen Settings. You can also add points with your current location by shaking the device. You can edit automatic routes and add points to them from any databases. Doing so is the same as with user routes.

Warning: Automatic route points will be recorded every 50m unless you choose another recording interval.

Custom routes

Choose Points screen using tab button at the bottom of the screen and then select option “Routes list”. Use button “Actions” to access action “New route”. You will be asked for the name of new route; you can enter this name using on-screen keyboard or by voice using “Dictate” button. You can add points to the route from any list showing points: database search, neighborhood, nearest Open Street Map, favorite points, saved points, and so on. Select any points you want to add to the route, then choose button “Actions” and select action 'Add to route”. You will be asked about route you want to add selected points to; just choose route and select button “Ready” to add selected points to the chosen route. You can edit custom routes. Choose route you want to edit on the list of routes, and after use button “Actions” to select action “Edit route”. You can delete points from edited route, change their order, and edit name of each of the points.

Navigation

Seeing Assistant Move allows you to find out your current location. It allows for managing – creating, deleting and editing own points, using imported databases, routing to chosen point, navigating along created routes and sharing points with other users. You can use Seeing Assistant Move to “look around” and find out where exactly are locations you are point your device at using local databases and Open Street Map. Seeing Assistant Move can inform you that you are near one of your “favorite” points even if it is turned off.

Where am I?

You will get information about your location when you choose “Where am I” button from the Home screen.You will get the street address, post code, city and country. Seeing Assistant Move uses Internet databases to retrieves those information so some information might be missing for less urbanized areas, e.g. you will get only city name or postcode.

You need working internet connection to use “Where am I” function.

GPS information

You will get GPS signal accuracy, your speed, and direction you are going to when you choose “GPS Info” from the Home screen. GPS accuracy depends on the weather, time of day, and surrounding buildings; accuracy of 10m is very good.

Find address

Seeing Assistant Move does not have to use only the imported databases. You can search for any address. To find an address you have to choose “Find Address” button from the Home screen. You will be asked to enter the address you are looking for. You can enter the address using either on-screen keyboard to write it, or “Dictate” button to dictate it. If the location was found, you will be able to edit the name, save it, track it or save and track it.

You need working Internet connection to use “Find address” function.

Show neighborhood

You can get list of points in your surroundings by using “Show neighborhood” option from the Home screen. Seeing Assistant Move uses active database to looks for points in your neighborhood. Application displays points that are closer to you than selected neighborhood radius. You can change this radius using option “Neighborhood radius” from the Settings screen. You can use button “Refresh”, located on the top of the screen, to refresh shown points, for example if you move and want to discover surrounding points in new location.

Nearest OpenStreetMap points

You can check nearest OpenStreetMap locations by using “Nearest OpenStreetMap points” option from the Home screen. You can refresh the list of points with “Refresh” button at the top. The radius of search is 1 to 1,4 kilometers. Points are retrieved from OpenStreetMap source (© OpenStreetMap Contributors, ODbL licence).

You need working Internet connection to use “Nearest OpenStreetMap points” function.

Exploration mode

You can switch to the Exploration Mode when you are exploring neighborhood points – just shake your device. Then hold your device horizontally and turn around. You will be informed which points your device is pointing at. Seeing Assistant Move uses magnetic compass to exactly detect orientation and conveys this information using clock hours. Shake the device again to leave exploration mode. You can also enable and disable Exploration Mode using button “Actions” and selecting action “Exploration yes” or “Exploration no”. Exploration mode shows points in set radius that can be changed using “Neighborhood radius” option from the Settings screen.

Show on map

In addition to the exploration mode acting on the basis of points stored in the database and “Nearest OpenStreetMap points”, Seeing Assistant Move provides the opportunity to get to know the surroundings of the selected point on maps (maps readable by VoiceOver are available on iOS 6 or later). You can show the map by choosing desired point, choosing “Action” and finally choosing “Show on map” from the list. By moving your finger across the screen, you will be informed of what is in the immediate vicinity of the selected point. You can follow the streets and browse the important places in the area. You can move the map with three fingers in any direction, and change the size of the area being explored with the knob using the zoom options.

You need working Internet connection to use “Show on map” function.

Simulate localization

Seeing Assistant Move allows you to simulate your location. Using this function you are able to familiarize yourself with immediate area of any chosen place. You can use “Show neighborhood” and “Nearest OpenStreetMap points” with simulated location. Those will work as if you were in the simulated location. To enable this function you have to use “Simulate location” from “Actions” menu after selecting one point in “Favorite points” and “Saved points” from Points screen or “Find in databases” from Home screen. To disable location simulating you can choose “Stop simulating location” from “Actions” menu from the same screens.

You need working Internet connection to use “Simulate location” function.

Creating points

Seeing Assistant Move allows you to create point using your current location, for example if you are in the place you want to return to later. To create the point select screen “Home” using tab button on the bottom of the screen and choose option “Save current locationt”. You will be asked for the name of newly created point. Seeing Assistant Move fills in name of the created point using geolocation information from the Internet. You can use on-screen keyboard or your voice, using button “Dictate”, to change the proposed name of new point. The new point is saved with location of your device at the time you tapped button “Save current location”. All points are saved in separate database called privatedb.sql; you can backup this database using Dropbox.
You need working internet connection to create points using your current location.

Editing points

You can edit all points you've created. Choose the screen Points and then choose option “Saved points”. Seeing Assistant Move will display list of all created points. You can select points you want to change and then you can use button “Actions” to edit location, delete selected point, add to selected route or list of favorite points, or send point in e-mail to another user. During edition of the point you can enter text using either on-screen keyboard or by voice, using button “Dictate”.

Favorite points

You can add points (either points created by you or points from databases) to the list of Favorite Points. You can use the list of favorite points to quickly access chosen points, for example to quickly start navigation to one of those points. You can access list of favorite points by choosing option “Favorite points” on the Points tab. To add any point to list of favorite points select chosen point on any list of the points (search result, neighborhood, database, Open Street Map), choose button “Actions” and choose action “Add to Favorites”.

Navigating to the point

You can use Seeing Assistant Move to help you to get to the selected point. Seeing Assistant Move will inform you about direction and distance from selected target when you move. To inform Seeing Assistant Move about point you want to navigate to select point on any list of points (search results, neighborhood, route, database), choose button “Actions” and use action “Add to track”. Seeing Assistant Move will start navigating to the selected point. Once you start navigating, the application will also allow tracking the direction to the nearest selected point. Use option “Tracked points” from Home tab to see list of tracked points. You will receive vibrations when the device is placed in a horizontal position, and the edge of the screen where the screen lock is, will indicate the direction of tracked point.

Navigation messages

Seeing Assistant Move can inform you about your location relative to the tracked point. Application emits messages about distance and direction to tracked point with frequency depending on selected time passed or selected distance traveled. Use option “Announcement interval” or “Announcement distance” from screen Settings to change frequency of messages, either as amount of time that must pass, or distance that has to be made. You can also get information about your location by using button “Force announcement” at the top of the screen. It will inform about distance and direction from tracked point every time it is pressed, independently of traveled distance. You can use button “Repeat announcement” in the top left corner of the screen to repeat last message if you had troubles understanding that message. You can change displayed messages using option “Notifications” on screen Settings. You can enable and disable usage of vibrations, additional sounds, and enable or disable all messages.

Route navigation

You can use Seeing Assistant Move to follow particular route. Seeing Assistant Move will inform you about direction and distance from the nearest point of that route. Use option “Routes list” from screen Points to get list of all available routes. Select route you want to follow and use button “Track route” to start route navigation. Seeing Assistant Move adds automatic routes with points in reverse order. This allows for you to return to the point you started registering that route.

Tracked points

Use option “Tracked points” from screen Home to see list of tracked points. Select point and use button “Actions” to remove point from tracked points or change order of tracked points. If you select route you can reverse order of points of that route. Use option “Finish tracking” to stop navigation.

Screen lock

iOS devices offer option to lock screen after some time. Seeing Assistant Move allows for disabling this lock from the application level. This will relieve you from having to unlock screen if you want to use the application for longer time. You can turn on and off screen locking using option “Auto-lock” on the screen Settings.

Screen rotation lock

Seeing Assistant Move allows for disabling automatic screen rotation, independent from system settings regarding screen rotation. This allows for locking screen in the selected rotation. Use option “Rotation lock” from Settings screen to turn on and off automatic screen rotation.

Popup messages

Seeing Assistant Move can inform you about getting closer to selected location even when application is in the background. You can get such a notification for all points in the “Favorite points” list. Choose option “Favorite points” from screen Settings to enable receiving notification every time you are closer than 150m from any of the favorite points. Notification is shown by Notification Center if Seeing Assistant Move is in background. You have to enable Location Services in the device for this option to work correctly. Go to iOS settings, choose Privacy, then Location Services. Enable Location Services and ensure that Seeing Assistant Move is also enabled as application that can use Location Services.

Warning: Favorite Points monitoring works only on iPhone 4 and later!

Cloud backup

Seeing Assistant Move allows for storing created and gathered data (points, routes) in the virtual cloud. You do not lose your data even if you lose your device or have to restore factory settings. You need Dropbox account to backup data to the cloud. Choose option “Dropbox” from the Settings screen. You need to connect Seeing Assistant Move with Dropbox using option “Link to Dropbox”. If you have Dropbox account and have registered your device with Dropbox you just need to choose “Allow” in the next screen. Dropbox will create directory SeeingAssistant-Move in the directory Dropbox/Apps, and Seeing Assistant Move will enable three additional buttons: “Download database & routes”, “Import text databases”, “Backup data” after you connect Seeing Assistant Move with Dropbox. Select button “Backup data” to backup your data. From the list of all databases and routes you can choose which ones you want to archive. You can choose all if you choose “Action” and then “Select all”. After selecting you can start uploading by choosing “Archive”. Selected databases and routes are sent to Dropbox. It can take some time, depending on size of the data and speed of your Internet connection. You can restore your data if you lose it by using button “Download database & routes” from menu “Dropbox” on screen Settings. Seeing Assistant Move will show new window with all databases and routes stored in the Dropbox. You can select routes and databases you want to restore in that window. If you want to restore everything you can choose action “Select all” and then use button “Download”.
You need working Internet connection to use cloud backup.

Voice commands

Seeing Assistant Move is unique because it allows for steering application using short voice commands. You can check weather, look for particular point in the database, get neighborhood just by using short voice command. Names of all voice commands are based on buttons or options they are activate by in the application. For example to find point in database select button “Voice commands” placed in top right corner, and say “Find bank” after the sound. If active database contains points with “bank” in their name, those points will be displayed. In the same manner you get list of all points in “Favorite points” database after you say “Favorite points”. If you say “Weather” you get current weather and forecast. You can quickly save your current location when you say “Save point”. Just say “start screen” to return to the starting screen from any screen in the application.

You need working Internet connection to use Voice commands.

List of voice commands

Select “Help” on More tab and use “Voice commands list” to see all available voice commands. You can also choose button “Voice commands” and say “Voice commands list”. You can navigate through the list of voice commands using groups and headers. All voice commands on that list are grouped; groups are based on functionality of the command.

Sharing points

You can share data with other users of Seeing Assistant Move. You can share both single points and entire routes and databases. Use option “Saved points” from tab Points to share point. Select point and use button “Actions” and option “Send by e-mail”. Seeing Assistant Move will open new e-mail with subject, content, and attachment already filled in. You only need to fill in the recipient of the message. Recipient should open received e-mail on the device with installed Seeing Assistant Move. There are two ways recipient can open attachment. You can double-tap attachment, then select button “Actions” in top right corner. You will get list of applications to open attachment with; select “Open in Move”. Attachment will be saved in Seeing Assistant Move directory. Another way does not require opening attachment. Double tap and hold on the attachment. Choose “Open in Seeing Assistant Move” and iOS will save attachment into Seeing Assistant Move directory. To share databases and routes use your computer. Copy files from Dropbox application directory. Databases are stored in directory Dropbox/Apps/SeeingAssistant-Move/database/, routes in Dropbox/Apps/SeeingAssistant-Move/route/. Copy any files you want to share and send them to your friend. Recipient of databases or routes similarly can paste received files to Dropbox directory and download them in Seeing Assistant Move using option “Download databases & routes” in menu “Dropbox” on the screen Settings. To avoid data loss we recommend changing name of received files so they do not collide with already existing files.

You need working Internet connection to share data.

Units of distance and temperature

You can set the distance units in application to metric or imperial using the option "Settings/Distance units". For metric units distance is reported in meters and kilometers, and for imperial units in yards and miles. To set the temperature units to Celsius or Fahrenheit, use the option "Settings/Temperature units".

User support

User support is strong point of Seeing Assistant Move. Choose “Help” from the More tab and then use option “Feedback” to visit user-support site. You can use the user-support site to provide your suggestions and remarks to Seeing Assistant Move developers; those suggestions can increase application functionality. User-provided suggestions are stored in our knowledge base. All users can comment and vote on suggestions and proposals of other users. This way Seeing Assistant Move developers can know which bugs and features and important to users and use this information to prioritize work on Seeing Assistant Move. You can also choose “Send Log” from Help screen to send the application log to developers. This way they can see what went wrong, find and fix the bugs in the next version. Log files are sent via e-mail from your default account. “Tutorial” option from Help screen will display most recent version of tutorial. You can use header structure for easy navigation.

Lite version limitations

Seeing Assistant Move in version Lite has some limitations:

• Lack of Dropbox support,
• Only one database active at any given time,
• Only one custom route can be created,
• Only five points can be created,
• Only five points can be added to the Favorite Points,
• Only 20 voice commands can be used during one day

Disclaimer

Seeing Assistant Move uses Internet for many of its functions. Depending on configuration of your device you may be charged for Internet connection or data transmission. You need to remember that Seeing Assistant Move uses GPS, Apple location services, OpenStreetMaps and databases imported by the user as the source of location data. GPS' accuracy is in the range of 15m. You need to use Seeing Assistant Move with care, taking this limitations in consideration. Producer of Seeing Assistant Move does not have any responsibility for any costs or damages which may be the result of using Seeing Assistant Move or which are caused by its limitation.