{"id":6690,"date":"2021-05-09T18:06:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T23:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=6690"},"modified":"2021-05-12T14:32:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T19:32:59","slug":"smith-kettlewell-eye-research-institute-is-listening-to-the-future-of-navigation-meet-engineer-brandon-biggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=6690","title":{"rendered":"Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute is Listening to the Future of Navigation \u2013 Meet Engineer, Brandon Biggs"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6959\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6690-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6702\">Full Transcript<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show Summary:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today Jeff and Raqi are joined in the studio by Brandon Biggs, inclusive designer and Engineer with The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (SKI), the foremost organization for vision research in the U. s. Brandon is involved in three major projects at SKI, including the development of the Cam IO app, which allows blind and visually impaired individuals to digitally annotate and navigate objects, such as appliances, iNavigate, an indoor way-finding app, and Audiom, an audio variation of Maps. &nbsp;In this podcast, Brandon will focus on Audiom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brandon shares his journey to Smith-Kettlewell by way of his educational path, which traversed not only the U. S., but to Italy, Malta, The Netherlands and Canada as well. He also describes the similarities and differences in the ways those countries approach their disabled communities with accessibility efforts, many of which are more focused on Blindness initiatives, but are behind the U. S. in other areas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brandon intends to advance his career in app development and data management as a scientist at Smith-Kettlewell, and will relocate to Georgia Tech University, in Atlanta, Ga. to pursue his PhD. &nbsp;<br>The Audiom project is one which involves use of maps, to plot out the geographical layout of cities and buildings, and to convert that data into an audio format for use by visually impaired users. &nbsp;&nbsp;Audiom uses real world sounds to depict points of data for users, such as dishes clattering for restaurants, or beeps for ATM machines. Audiom also uses traditional conventions such as first person and list view from Video games like Swamp or Heroes Call&nbsp;which are quickly spatially conveyed into useful navigational information for blind users. &nbsp;Stay tuned down the road as this project promises to evolve into a helpful means for mapping geographical data into a usable &nbsp;tool for the Blind.<br>Be sure to set aside a few minutes to hear this fascinating guest speak of his passion for his work and its future impact on the lives of the Blind and Visually Impaired &nbsp;around the World.<br>You can find out more about the Audiom project, as well as iNavigate and Cam IO on&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/ski.org\/\">Smith-Kettlewell\u2019s website<\/a>,:.<br>And, while they are not yet beta testing, &nbsp;if you are interested in helping test the Audiom app, send an email to &nbsp;<br><a href=\"mailto:Audiom@SKI.Org\">Audiom@SKI.Org<\/a>,&nbsp;You will be notified when they are ready for Beta testers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Contact Your State Services<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:Sheila.Koenig@state.mn.us\">email<\/a>&nbsp;or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Contact:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can follow us on Twitter&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/blindabilities\">@BlindAbilities<\/a><br>On the web at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/\">www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a><br>Send us an&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:info@BlindAbilities.com\">email<\/a><br>Get the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/blind-abilities\/id1085849859?l=es&amp;mt=8\">Free Blind Abilities App&nbsp;on the App Store<\/a>and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.blindabilities.android.blind&amp;hl=en_US\">Google Play Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check out the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/607027582712671\/\">Blind Abilities Community<\/a>on Facebook, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BlindAbilities\/\">Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/jobinsightsgroup\">Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a>&nbsp;group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_6961\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-6690-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3\">https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p>https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/blindabilities\/BrandonBiggs.mp3 Full Transcript Show Summary: Today Jeff and Raqi are joined in the studio by Brandon Biggs, inclusive designer and Engineer with The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (SKI), the foremost organization for vision research in the U. s. Brandon is involved in three major projects at SKI, including the development of the Cam IO app, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17,467,514],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bapresents","category-technology","category-transcribed"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6rcRg-1JU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7443,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=7443","url_meta":{"origin":6690,"position":0},"title":"Audiom: Audio Maps for the Blind. Welcome back Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute Engineer, Brandon Biggs and Meet Christopher Toth, Blind Applications Engineer.","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcast Summary: Jeff Thompson is joined\u00a0\u00a0in the studio by Brandon Biggs, inclusive designer and Engineer with The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute (SKI), the foremost organization for vision research in the U. s. and Christopher Toth, an Applications Engineer. Audiom is the solution for \u201cglancability\u201d of a map to give an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1829,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=1829","url_meta":{"origin":6690,"position":1},"title":"Berkley Professor Designs Tools for the Visually Impaired &#8212; RadioTalkingBook","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an article from Radio Talking Book which can be found on the web by clicking here. Berkeley scientist designs tools for the visually impaired By Berenice Freedome \u2022 Mar 2, 2016 Dr. Joshua Miele's morning commute to Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute takes about an hour\u2014as long as no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=467"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3391,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=3391","url_meta":{"origin":6690,"position":2},"title":"ThatBlindTechShow 13: Racing for the Blind, Amazon Follow Up Feature, Be My Eyes Interview Apple vs Android SmackDown.","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"ech Show. Allison, Jeff and Bryan bring you a jam packed episode including segments from an interview with the Be My Eyes Team, a demonstration on setting up your Amazon device with the new Follow Up feature. This allows you to ask another question within 5 seconds without invoking the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=467"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/That-Blind-Tech-Show-Mic-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/That-Blind-Tech-Show-Mic-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/That-Blind-Tech-Show-Mic-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/That-Blind-Tech-Show-Mic-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/That-Blind-Tech-Show-Mic-2.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/That-Blind-Tech-Show-Mic-2.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5152,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=5152","url_meta":{"origin":6690,"position":3},"title":"Career Expo: Volunteering Led Sam Jasmine to Her Engineering Position and Has Been Engineering the Disability in Progress Radio Show for 14 Years","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"June 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Career&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Career","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=373"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of man with cane and woman with service dog and City Skyline with Job Insights in bold letters.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobinsights.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4202,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=4202","url_meta":{"origin":6690,"position":4},"title":"PACER Center: Letting Them Grow \u2013 Transitioning from Youth to Adulthood &#8211; A Conversation with Parents Barb Ziemke and Kate Reinicke (Transcript Provided)","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"December 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Show Summary: (Full Transcript Below) In partnership with State Services for the Blind of Minnesota we are proud to present, PACER Center - Champions for Children with Disabilities.\u00a0 Barb and Kate sit down with Jeff Thompson of Blind Abilities in the sixth of a series of podcasts in partnership with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BlindAbilities Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BlindAbilities Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2736,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?p=2736","url_meta":{"origin":6690,"position":5},"title":"Aira Presents: A Conversation With John Herzog &#8211; Accessibility Solutions Engineer With AT&#038;T","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"July 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Aira once again offers a feature presentation: A Conversation with John Herzog. John is an Accessibility Solutions Engineer with AT&T. He sits down with the Blind Abilities Team to share an in depth look at his life as a blind man: his youth, education and his time at law school.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aira Presents&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aira Presents","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?cat=485"},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6690"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6707,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6690\/revisions\/6707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}