Aid for the Blind using Mobile Phone with Global Positioning System (Server Side Development)

Abstract

The aim of this project is to develop a system to aid the blind people using mobile phone and global positioning system. The blind person carries his mobile phone, which is equipped with an internal GPS receiver. When he wants to know his location, he presses a button on the mobile phone. The mobile phone will receive GPS signals and send the data to a server. The server will analyse the GPS signal and return his current location to the phone. Then the phone will use voice feedback to tell the user his current location. Other than providing current location of the user, the system also provides route instruction to guide the user to the destination. The whole project is done by two students, each responsible for different aspect of the system, the server web application development and the mobile application development. This project focuses on the web application development. The server is used to analyse the GPS signal and data received from the mobile phone and then return useful information to the phone. It also keeps the record of all the location requests from the phone. Also, the staffs at the help center use the server web application to manage the data, such as location information, mobile phone user information, route information etc. In this project, the Google Maps is used to provide geographic information and route instruction.