Sendero has just announced that they have submitted Seeing Eye GPs 1.1 for the iPhone to the app store. There are a number of changes in this version and the company has decided to reward early adopters of the app by resetting their subscription date to August 20. This means that everyone has been using the app for free since it launched. Below is a copy of the release that discusses the changes and new features.
Announcing the release to the Apple Store of the first update to The Seeing Eye GPS™ app for the iPhone, version 1.1.
August 19, 2013
Start looking for this new version in your app update list any day.
To give thanks to all of you early adopters of The Seeing Eye GPS™, we have a gift. All subscriptions will be reset to begin August 20. Hence, your use of the app so far has been free. Thank you for your confidence and for your suggestions.
The following 9 improvements have been made to The Seeing Eye GPS™ version 1 in addition to a few technical changes under the hood.
You can now select 3 conditions for automatically hearing intersections and POIs announced, based on 15 MPH or less, 40 MPH or less or announced no matter the speed. The default is set for intersections at 40 MPH and for POIs at 15 MPH. You can also turn off both of these Lookaround items.
When a route is active, the two most important pieces of information are the distance and direction of the next turn and the distance and direction to the final destination. This information is better organized and is now at the top of both the Location screen and the Route screen. You have the option to shake the phone to get these announcements as well. The Shake feature has been improved so it won't activate as easily when not being held in the hand.
An Auto Repeat function helps to ensure that you hear important information automatically. This applies to the next turn and destination information. As you get closer to your destination, the turning announcements automatically repeat more frequently based on the same parameters as the Getting Warmer function. This is every 15 seconds under 500 feet, every 30 seconds from 500 to 1,000 feet, every minute from 1,000 feet to 5 miles and every 5 minutes beyond 5 miles. The destination information is also repeated under 1,000 feet. An On/Off selection is available under the Settings Routing menu for auto repeat.
A vibration has been added to indicate turn now, and arrived at destination. There is a Vibration On/Off selection on the Settings Routing screen.
The POI Lookaround announcements are now tied to your POI content source. The default is Foursquare, which used to apply only to searches. If the default Foursquare POI content is chosen, this will apply to both POI searches and to the Lookaround POIs you hear automatically announced. A maximum of 3 Foursquare categories can be manually selected for POI searches. The default is to have the All Categories button selected. Navteq POI categories are a bit different from Foursquare and have not been changed.
The POI search distance has been expanded from 50 miles to 200 miles. You will be prompted to search further if no matching POIs are found within 50 miles and every 20 additional miles thereafter. In less populated areas, the search may go up to 200 miles without prompting.
Improvements have been made in the handling of turning announcements when the network is lost. The next turn and destination as well as the ETA will update even when there is no phone service. It will not recalculate if you go off-route but if you stay on the route, the information is nicely updated.
OpenStreetMaps, or OSM, are now an option for Location Information and creating of Routes.
Here are some small but helpful changes. Some wording changes have been made to improve clarity and brevity. The Subscription button now identifies the email account name. Distances to the route History items are now relative to your current location and not just where you first created the route. The items in the Settings Routing menu have been reordered. There is a link to the updated version 1.1 Seeing Eye GPS™ manual from inside the program. You can find it at User Guide
There is no phone support for Sendero phone apps, however, you are welcome to send suggestions or questions to iphone@senderogroup.com.
Note: Thanks to everyone who voted on features for this app. The two leading features are not in this version but they remain a priority for another release. We have taken down the voting page but will reinstate it again after we have made sufficient progress on the features you have already requested.
To purchase The Seeing Eye GPS™ app, go to iTunes, it is free to download, but when you launch for the first time you will be prompted to select a subscription plan for either $69 for 1 year or $129 for 3 years.
Source: Go to sourceCategory: Software
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For the past three years Alena has been a feature writer for the online magazine Matilda Ziegler. She has also been a contractor for the Oregon Commission for the Blind, helping blind adults learn to use adaptive technology. She is studying to be a teacher of the visually impaired at Portland State. You might also recognize her from the Serotalk podcast Triple Click Home.
