The Loadstone project was started in 2004 by Monty Lilburn and Shawn Kirkpatrick, both blind. Monty, Canadian and recently moved to Glasgow, Scotland, explains:
"Ever since first finding out about the GPS satellite network in the early 90's I knew this was something that was going to in time complement my mobility
skills. It was just a case of waiting for the technology to be available. Of course the late 90's and early 2000's brought us GPS for the blind from the
Sendaro group, then Visuaide and Humanware/pulse-data came out with solutions. The problem with all of these solutions was (and still is) cost.
In 2004 I purchased my first speech-enabled mobile phone (Nokia 6600 with Talks) and immediately saw the potential of having a portable device which could interface with a bluetooth GPS receiver. I communicated this idea with my good friend and excellent programmer Shawn who was back in Vancouver."
After two years of development a navigation program existed that was able to inform the user about marked points in the nearby environment. Using the joystick on the mobile phone the environment could be scanned and provided sufficient information to serve as a navigational aid. In May 2006 the duo decided to put the program at the disposal of other blind and visually impaired people with a need for a cheap, lightweight device that could inform them about their whereabouts. A good friend came up with the name Loadstone, a magnetic iron ore that had served as a compassneedle around 1000 AD.
In the summer of 2006 Shane Wegner and Rob Melchers joined the project, Shane as the webmaster of the Point Share Exchange, a web site that serves as the central deposit for navigational points and Rob from Amsterdam as the writer of the documentation and developer of the online-tools that compliment the use of the Loadstone program. Shane and Rob are also blind and have, like Monty and Shawn, long-time experience in programming and web development.
Although Loadstone-GPS initially was developped as a do-it-yourself orientational tool that required users to make their own map, it is now possible to use external data such as the TIGER data and the data provided by the OpenStreetMap project as maps usable by the program.
Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system
- TIGER/LineŽShapefiles are spatial extracts from the Census Bureau's MAF/TIGER database, containing features such as roads, railroads, rivers, as well as legal and statistical geographic areas.
- TIGER/LineŽShapefiles are made available to the public for no charge and are typically used to provide the digital map base for a Geographic Information System or for mapping software.
- TIGER/LineŽShapefiles are designed for use with geographic information system (GIS) software.
The TIGER/LineŽShapefiles do not include demographic data, but they contain geographic entity codes that can be linked to the Census Bureaus demographic data, available on American FactFinder
The TIGER/Line shapefile data includes complete coverage of the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Midway Islands.
TIGER data is converted to the Loadstone-GPS format and available via the PointShareExchange database.
The Free Wiki World Map
OpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world. It is made by people like you. OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) was founded in July 2004 by Steve Coast. In April 2006, a foundation was established with the aim of encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data and providing geospatial data for anybody to use and share. In December 2006 Yahoo confirmed that OpenStreetMap could use their aerial photography as a backdrop for map production.
In April 2007 Automotive Navigation Data (AND) donated a complete road dataset for the Netherlands and trunk road data for India and China to the project. In October 2007 OpenStreetMap completed the import of a US Census TIGER road dataset.
By August 2008, shortly after the second 'The State of the Map' conference was held, there were over 50,000 registered users with over 5,000 active contributors. In March 2009, 100,000 users were surpassed.
OSM data can be converted for use in the Loadstone-GPS program with use of the tools on the Loadstone-GPS website.
Although Loadstone-GPS is free to use, it has used up thousands of development and testing hours since February 2004. In order for us to continue funding this project, adding features, improving functionality, and strengthening the support and documentation we need your help.
Please consider making a donation (Large or small - any amount is gratefully received) and will ensure development of this project continues well into the future.
Select this link to donate to the Loadstone-GPS project