Healthcare Services Products and Projects

GMV collaborates with organizations like ONCE, the Spanish national organization for the blind, in the development of systems and solutions that improve the quality of life for visually challenged individuals through the innovative application of new technologies.

Special attention should be given to tormes, a device developed for ONCE, which consists of a personal GPS navigator that provides a personal solution in urban navigation through street-to-street guidance in the city for the visually impaired. This system consists of a small computer with a Braille keyboard and speech synthesis that allows interaction for the visually impaired, a GPS receiver, a cartographic database and a software program especially designed and developed to provide the required functions to visually impaired persons.

The system has two basic operating modes: virtual and real. In the virtual mode, the user works from home and reviews the cartography, creates and tries routes. In the real mode, the user takes the device on the street and the device will guide the user through the programmed route.

Visually challenged individuals will not only receive specific information about the name of the street, the next intersection, the house number and the name of the place where he or she may be, but they will also have additional applications available to them. Visually challenged individuals can, for example, take a virtual tour through the city or familiarize themselves with the streets in the same manner as if they were reading a map. They can also make up their own route, which can be navigated with the system’s continuous assistance, guiding the user and correcting any mistakes leading them back to the predetermined route.