Moovit, Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions company and the maker of the world’s #1 urban mobility app, together with Aira, the remote assistance app providing blind and low vision users visual information on demand from trained professionals, are announcing a collaboration with Microsoft Azure Maps that will make public transit more accessible for Aira’s users around the globe.
Public transportation is the lifeline to jobs, education, healthcare, and more, yet many blindand/or low vision riders still have trouble getting to their destination. They may be uncertain that they’ve caught the right bus, or can’t read the entrance sign they need to follow in order to access the subway. In addition, as populations age, the number of people experiencing age-related vision loss rises everyday.
Moovit and Aira are joining forces in order to challenge these obstacles and make public transit more accessible and inclusive, empowering blind and low vision riders to travel with more confidence.Through its mobile app or smart glasses, Aira connects users to trained professionals, called Aira agents, who can see a users’ environment through their smartphone camera. This enables agents to describe objects, read signage, take and label photos, and more.
Now, through this partnership, Aira agents can also help users navigate public transit more effectively with better,real-time data.Utilizing Azure Maps, Aira agents can access efficient and reliable navigational tools to assist users in getting to their destination.
The solution, powered by Moovit’s Transit APIs to provide transit planning and navigation, enables agents to view and obtain information on multimodaltrip planning, transit routes, and itineraries.
Through the richness of Azure Maps, and itsintegration with the mobility information and navigation that Moovit provides, Aira agents can now provide users with navigation guidance for their journey, ultimately delivering the optimal user experience.
Aira provides full service in the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.