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Poole Boardwalk gets guide for the blind

New nav service piloted in Lois Hole Park
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BLIND NAVIGATION — Alberta Parks and the CNIB have launched the BlindSquare app to help blind visitors get around the John E. Poole wetland in St. Albert. The app provides an audio navigation guide for the park, and is being rolled out at other Alberta parks. KEVIN MA/St. Albert Gazette

The province has rolled out an app at Lois Hole Provincial Park to help the blind enjoy the great outdoors.  

Alberta Parks announced Sept. 16 via Facebook that it has partnered with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Trans Canada Trail to bring the BlindSquare wayfinding app to the Stream Changes Trail and Visitor Centre in Fish Creek Provincial Park as part of its Push to Open Nature initiative

Graham Brittain, development planner with Alberta Parks, said the province had rolled out the app at Fish Creek after first testing it in May at the John E. Poole Boardwalk in Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park — a place they picked for a pilot because it was close to a city and had established trails. 

The BlindSquare app (the free version of which is called BlindSq Event) uses GPS and Bluetooth to track a person’s position and describe their surroundings, said CNIB spokesperson Mary Ann Bent. At the Poole wetland, the app tells you the rough distance and direction of key landmarks (such as trash cans, benches, and ramps) and reads out the text of information panels, allowing users to walk the boardwalk without help from a guide dog or person. 

Bent said the app can’t help a visually impaired person spot a bird or moose — yet — but can still help them enjoy a park’s sounds, smells, and other sensations. It also acts as a training tool for the newly blind to learn how to live without sight.  

“Trails are such an important part of our health," Bent said, and should be accessible to everyone. 

Brittain said the province plans to roll out the app at William Watson Lodge some time in 2022.  

The BlindSquare and BlindSq Event apps are available through the Apple App Store. Questions on the Push to Open Nature project should go to [email protected]


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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