Soundscape Technology

Adventure walks like other Walking tours a walk which was designed as a multi-sensory experience for people with sight loss and their friends and family
Tandem bike sharing bicycle sharing schemes could have tandem bikes for people with a visual impairment and a guide
Bicycle sounds the silence of cyclists poses a great challenge to those with sight loss – a special noise which people could listen out-for would significantly help
Self-driving cars autonomous vehicles are going to be a feature of the future city, they may well offer an excellent way for independent travel for those with sight loss
Haptic shoes haptic shoes could aid navigation and orientation by communicating though vibrations
Thermal-imaging those with particular kinds of partial sight-loss could be supported with this technology
Scent trail scent trails in the city could add a new layer of sensory information to guide individuals with an acute sense of smell as well as potentially Guide Dogs
Music vistas soundscape visitors describing views down avenues and boulevards could be achieved with directional sound
Sensory maps sensory versions of online GPS maps
Mobility advocates a trend towards un-manned stations drives the need for other types of staff to help with travel questions and support
Knowledge centre a hub in the city to help support with travel and transport

Cities Unlocked: realising the potential of people and places

Cities Unlocked draws on the expertise of Future Cities Catapult, Guide Dogs and Microsoft. We've come to understand the mobility challenges faced by people with sight loss in our cities. In response we've developed a new soundscape technology and highlighted further opportunities for innovation that could unlock cities for everyone.

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Be inspired

Come and explore films demonstrating the mobility challenges faced by people with sight loss in our cities, the new 3D soundscape technology we have developed to address those challenges and the opportunities we have identified for further innovation and download our report.

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Explore our research

Topics: Overall
Research state: Challenge

Understanding the challenge

Many people with sight loss are too anxious to leave home alone Getting around cities is a nerve-wracking experience for too many people,…

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Topics: Overall
Research state: Demonstrator

3D soundscape technology enabled journey - results

Based on the research you can explore in 'Challenges', and equipped with a model of well being developed by Guide Dogs we developed a…

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Topics: Overall
Research state: Opportunity

Finding opportunities; horizon scans and visioning workshops

We have endeavoured to understand the opportunities for Future Cities to be better designed for people with sight loss. We have undertaken…

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Latest news

November 6th, 2014

Cities Unlocked Report Launched

Check out the research findings, the results from the study of the impact of the 3D SoundScape technology and calls to action for transport providers, planners and technologists!…

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November 5th, 2014

Press launch of Cities Unlocked

On the 6th November Cities Unlocked officially launched. To mark this we invited some journalists to come and experience the route of the technology demonstrator between Reading…

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November 4th, 2014

EEG Brain Monitoring at Innovate UK 2014

Today Future Cities Catapult and Panos Mavros of CASA, UCL exhibited the groundbreaking work they have been doing as part of Cities Unlocked on measuring stress responses to our…

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