GoMedia has developed Luna, a smart application powered by Signapse technology and integrated with GoMedia’s accessible wayfinding solution, ‘Visor’, which translates digital information listed online into BSL and transmits it directly to the user through their smart device via a personalised digital signer.
The development and testing of the solution has been funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), through the £5.3m First of a Kind 2023 (FOAK23) competition, which it delivered jointly with Innovate UK (part of UKRI) and High Speed Two (HS2) Limited.
There are more than 150,000 people in the UK who rely on BSL, meaning that many passengers who are deaf or have hearing loss struggle to access essential information whilst travelling. This can be particularly difficult during service disruptions, as information is often shared through audio announcements and is not always available on visual displays or signs.
Project Luna uses a unique webpage, accessed by URL or QR code, which enables customers to access station and facility information, live departures and disruptions, and station announcements in up to 33 different languages.
In addition to BSL, passengers will be also able to access the information Luna provides through audio and text announcements, extending the solution’s usefulness to more than just BSL users, for example people who wear noise cancelling headphones when travelling.
Matthew Bromley, Head of Business Intelligence at ARL, said: “We are committed to finding solutions which will help London Overground passengers travel independently and with ease, so it made perfect sense to trial GoMedia’s Luna solution. We hope our collaboration with GoMedia will be another step towards more accessible public transport for all.”
The solution is being trialled across five London Overground stations from May until September 2024.
Read the original press release here
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) reports that 4 out of 10 blind and partially-sighted passengers cannot make all the journeys they need or want to make. This is particularly important as there are currently many potential passengers being locked out of using the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation.
To find out how digital technology is used to provide accessible public transport, as well as how it compares to other industries, we asked some questions to RNIB’s Head of Inclusive Design, Robin Spinks, as well as experts in the field of digital accessibility solutions for public transport: Sven Koster, Head of New Business Development and Innovation at GoMedia, and Raúl Moreno, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Projects at NaviLens.
Question 1: Can you tell us about NaviLens and how it is combining with GoMedia to improve Accessibility on public transport?
Raúl Moreno, NaviLens: NaviLens is a groundbreaking technological solution initially developed to help people with vision loss navigate their environment independently. Blind people and those with other degrees of vision loss either have difficulty or are unable to use traditional signage and, therefore, face significant challenges finding their way in unfamiliar environments, particularly busy ones like public transport stations.
This innovative technology employs a distinctive system of high-contrast, color-coded symbols—readily detectable and interpretable by smartphones or specialised cameras and easy to recognise by people with vision loss. These dynamic NaviLens Accessible codes encode a wealth of information, including location details and directions, empowering users with real-time access to relevant and contextualized data based on where the code is located.
This is where GoMedia plays a pivotal role in applying the solution to public transport. By linking NaviLens to GoMedia’s real-time passenger information database – A blended service called “Visor” – users simply scan the NaviLens Accessible codes with their smart device to get fully up-to-date journey information in real-time.
Users can benefit from the help of the app’s voice assistant to continue their journey, with practical information including descriptions of physical elements, guidance indicators, and real-time arrivals, departures, and delays.
Sven Koster, GoMedia: GoMedia believes that a better journey experience leads to increased customer satisfaction and more public transport usage overall. To deliver better transport for everyone, it is important to take an inclusive approach with our digital passenger experience, catering to people of all backgrounds and abilities.
When RNIB introduced us to this wonderful technology around five years ago, that allows blind and partially sighted people to access information in a format that works for them, we were excited by the prospect of helping passengers make their journeys independently by combining NaviLens’ innovative wayfinding technology with GoMedia’s digital journey information service.
Since partnering with NaviLens to help passengers with sight loss, we’ve gone on to identify and develop an ecosystem of accessibility solutions for public transport, that also address the needs of passengers with hearing loss. These including personalised onboard announcements co-developed with the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, as well as personalised digital signers, developed with Signapse AI.
Robin Spinks, RNIB: What sets Visor apart is its holistic approach to user experience, which is encapsulated in a single, easy-to-use app. Thanks to its versatility, the solution has been applied in a variety of ways, from domestic settings to inclusive tourism experiences, and spanning all modes of transportation.
Users do not need to know precisely where codes are placed and can receive the information they need in a variety of formats and languages, all through an intuitive, user-friendly app.
Question 2: What are some of the specific challenges you have to consider when deploying the solution and how do you overcome them?
Raúl Moreno, NaviLens: We have worked with several multinational companies across a range of industries, including Kellogg’s, Proctor & Gamble, and Coca Cola, all of which use NaviLens technology to relay important product information to consumers using the NaviLens codes, whether they experience vision loss or not. Whether a single NaviLens code is applied to product packaging, or whether hundreds of codes are integrated into large environments like train stations, proper placement is key.
It requires close collaboration between several stakeholders to assess and determine the best possible locations for codes to be placed, for example considering how items will be stacked on shop shelves, or where to display codes to form the most efficient path through busy stations from one mode of transport to the next.
Clear communication and effective project management are therefore vital to any installation and choosing partners that can successfully see deployments through from start to finish is a tremendously beneficial consideration for every party involved.
Sven Koster, GoMedia: With several deployments of Visor completed, we have faced and learned from a variety of challenges across several different public transport environments.
Through our West Midlands pilot, we proved that we could implement the solution for a total end-to-end journey. We could guide passengers with sight loss to successfully find the tram stop, identify the correct tram as they boarded, based on the journey they selected in the app, and then get off at the correct stop as well.
When we deployed Visor at one of the UK’s busiest rail stations, London Euston, we were presented with an extremely busy and highly dynamic environment. Other station improvement works were being conducted while thousands of passengers moved around the space daily. This required very careful planning and cooperation with the UK’s rail infrastructure provider, Network Rail, to ensure that passengers were given the best possible route through the station and avoid disruption.
On our most recent deployment on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), we encountered new challenges still. For example, the solution deployed at Cutty Sark station had to provide users with fully up-to-date information, despite being completely underground with no cellular connectivity.
Robin Spinks, RNIB: Every location is different. Every physical building is different architecturally, be it a railway station or a light rail station, or a bus station, or a subway. All of those stations and environments have got different characteristics and I think what’s really important for us is that we capture the user experience across different contexts, so we’ve been able to help pilot this solution on product packaging, at a major bus station in the West Midlands, and on four DLR stations with really high footfall.
We are really excited to get all of that information from as many different contexts and users as possible, with different eye conditions and different levels of confidence. All of that helps us build a better picture and ultimately to enable people to move around more confidently.
An obvious thing for us to do is to partner with organisations who are stakeholders in this space and use their infrastructure and expertise to achieve some positive change and make travel easier for people. It’s all about opening up opportunities, improving confidence, and enabling people to get about. We can’t do that on our own, but we can do it by working with great partners like GoMedia.
Question 3: What can the public transport industry learn from other sectors in making their services more accessible?
Raúl Moreno, NaviLens: There has undoubtedly been some financial uncertainty across the globe in recent years and, in an industry where spending is carefully and publicly scrutinised, it is understandable that some hesitancy can arise when thinking about whether to deploy new technologies, particularly across entire transport networks.
This is where we believe that solutions like Visor can truly make a difference, by bridging the gap between tried and tested technologies and new ways of providing customers with the information they need to make informed decisions. The way that information is presented to passengers has a significant influence on their choice of transport and by providing a more efficient, enjoyable navigation experience, passengers will choose to use public transport more often over other, less sustainable modes of transport such as cars.
Sven Koster, GoMedia: If we take major cities as an example, there are a number of factors affecting public transport usage which transport planning authorities may not have fully considered. In addition to passengers with physical accessibility needs, there are several “hidden disabilities” that may affect whether passengers can use traditional signage and announcements, for example passengers with low literacy levels or hearing loss.
It is also important to consider tourism in these environments. Tens of millions of tourists can pass through the world’s busiest cities every year, many of whom may not have high English reading comprehension levels. By providing them with updates in their native language, these users are able to make their journeys more quickly, safely, and independently, reducing strain on passenger information services and station congestion, making the service more attractive and efficient as a whole.
Robin Spinks, RNIB: That’s correct – You don’t need to have vision loss to try Visor. You can download the app as a sighted person and give it a try, because there’s an additional benefit alongside the benefits that blind and partially sighted people experience, for example: Having information in your native language. If you’re a native German speaker, for example, and you’d like to have signs and announcements in your native language, or find a step-free route around the environment, you can do that with Visor.
In terms of the public transport industry, every piece of research that we do around blindness and sight loss indicates that mobility, travel, and getting around continues to be one of the biggest barriers that people face, wherever they are in the world and that’s certainly the case for two million people with sight problems here in the UK.
By keeping such a large number of people locked out of the public transport system through inaccessibility, there are millions of pounds, euros, and dollars in ticket revenues that is not being realised, not to mention the impact on the economy as a whole when people find it difficult to get out to work, enjoy leisure activities, or buy products. For example, transport operators in the West Midlands alone are missing out £4 million of revenue every year because their public transport system isn’t fully accessible.
Question 4: How do you foresee Visor becoming more widely adopted across the public transport industry?
Raúl Moreno, NaviLens: There is often a potential for reluctance to adopt new methods, particularly in more traditional or established environments. The aim is to continue to prove the accuracy and reliability of the system in diverse real-world conditions, such as varying lighting conditions and crowded spaces, through both live deployments and technological trials.
As NaviLens continues to establish itself as the most cost-effective, efficient, and user-friendly accessibility solution to deploy, we hope that more widespread adoption across transport networks should become a reality, as it has in multiple cities and public spaces, and on consumer products worldwide.
Sven Koster, GoMedia: Many of the major players in the public transport industry are now discussing NaviLens technology and, by packaging it into GoMedia’s successfully tested Visor solution, we can combine our resources, expertise, and industry knowledge to deploy the solution quickly and cost-effectively, anywhere in the world.
We are continuing to gather some highly positive feedback from passengers and transport operators alike and the more we can use this to talk about passengers’ accessibility needs and how to solve their challenges, the closer we get to public transport systems that are fairer and more inclusive for everyone.
Robin Spinks, RNIB: We encourage everyone to try Visor for themselves. Download the NaviLens app and let us know what your experience is like. We are always keen to try new approaches and pilot products in new areas.
So, watch this space, we’ll be doing more for sure.
NaviLens is designed specifically to enable blind and partially-sighted people to access and locate information and interact with their environment, particularly in busy areas like train stations. NaviLens’ technology has seen successful deployments in New York Metro, Barcelona, and Los Angeles. It is even used beyond transport, such as in supermarkets on some Kellogg’s packaging, to provide ingredient information.
NaviLens technology is based on image recognition using augmented smart codes, placed along designated customer itineraries, and a smartphone app that provides voice guidance for blind and partially-sighted passengers. Once the smart codes have been scanned using the NaviLens app, users can benefit from the help of the app’s voice assistant to continue their journey, the voice assistant having told them practical information including description of a physical element, guidance indications and real-time DLR arrivals and departures.
The trial of NaviLens will be supported by audio announcements at stations, members of staff at Woolwich Arsenal DLR station and Passenger Service Agents that are onboard all DLR trains to assist passengers. The technology could also support those hampered by language barriers, or passengers unfamiliar with London: the NaviLens app can transmit the information encapsulated in the smart codes in augmented reality, in 33 different languages.
TfL is actively pursuing innovation, and in particular is working with KeolisAmey Docklands to use the DLR as a testbed to help improve customer experience and decarbonisation right across the network.
Seb Dance, Deputy Mayor for Transport said: “Encouraging greater use of public transport is a top priority for the Mayor, and the NaviLens app should make a real difference for partially-sighted customers and help make London’s transport network accessible to all. The DLR is one of the most accessible modes of transport on our network and this new technology will go even further to help customers with access needs travel with ease, building a better, safer and fairer London for all.”
Tom Page, General Manager of the DLR at TfL, said: “Customers are at the heart of everything we do. With step-free access across the DLR network, the NaviLens technology will allow us to use four stations to trial how we can best serve everyone, including those with accessibility needs or needing to access information in other languages. NaviLens will work alongside Passenger Service Agents that are onboard all DLR trains, and we will work with our partners KeolisAmey Docklands, GoMedia and The Royal National Institute of Blind People to review the trial once it has concluded.”
Andrew Dickinson, Service Delivery Director at KeolisAmey Docklands, said: “KeolisAmey Docklands are excited to trial the innovative NaviLens technology in partnership with GoMedia, RNIB and Transport for London. We are proud to operate the DLR serving our customers, communities and businesses in east London. We continually look to improve and make our railway even more accessible to all.
“This trial is an exciting partnership collaboratively working to improve the customer experience for those who are partially sighted or fully blind. By embracing and building on technological developments we can build the connectivity of the Docklands area to those living around it.
“We will also be developing the trial to see how it can help us with other areas of customer communication and provision of service information.”
Robin Spinks, RNIB Head of Inclusive Design, said: “Navigating train and light rail stations can be a very daunting and anxiety provoking experience for people living with blindness or partial sight.
“As someone who is registered as blind, I can struggle to navigate around train stations as the signs are often inaccessible to me. I don’t want special treatment; I just want access to the same information that everyone else takes for granted.
“RNIB is delighted to be involved in this partnership, where NaviLens technology is enabling more confident, independent travel for people like me.”
Roger Matthews, Managing Director of GoMedia and Chief Commercial Officer of its parent company, Icomera, said “GoMedia’s accessibility solution uses a live, cloud-based passenger information system to deliver accurate, content-rich, location-based information to users of the Navilens app. The trial does not require the installation of any additional physical infrastructure aside from the optical smart code stickers, so it presents a fast and cost-effective accessibility win for transport infrastructure owners and operators.”
KeolisAmey Docklands operates and maintains the DLR under franchise for Docklands Light Railway Limited, part of Transport for London. It is the busiest light railway in the UK.
KeolisAmey Docklands is a joint venture between transport operators, Keolis (70%) and infrastructure specialists Amey (30%).
GoMedia creates award-winning infotainment platforms for rail, coach, and transport companies, including, Greyhound Buses (USA), TransPennine Express, Capitol Corridor (California), Metrolinx (Canada) and more. In September 2020, GoMedia was acquired by Icomera, a subsidiary of Equans and the world’s leading provider of integrated connectivity solutions for public transport. GoMedia is helping to deliver The Connected Journey, improving the onboard experience through world-leading entertainment, live passenger information, and a range of messaging solutions delivered to passengers’ own mobile devices. For more information about GoMedia’s accessibility solution, visit www.gomedia.io