The technology is called NaviLens and the concept is fairly simple: Scan a colorful square and receive information in audio format. That sounds a lot like a QR code, but scanning one of those requires focusing your phone camera on one point for a few seconds. Scanning a NaviLens code takes a fraction of that time, and you don’t even have to keep your phone still, making the process much more viable for those who are visually impaired and stand to benefit from that technology.
Outside the Butterfly House at Nathanial Greene Park, people scanned a code by the door.
"Roger over here was grinning ear-to-ear, and you couldn’t hear it on his phone. He’s got it in his ear. And I’ve noticed that a lot of people are starting to walk around with their phone like everybody else does, and they’re listening," said Frank Taylor of from Mary’s Braille International, a local consulting group working to implement NaviLens throughout Springfield.
The event also included representatives of the City of Springfield and disability advocacy group, empower: abilities, among others. The event included a tour of empower: abilities, the Springfield Botanical Center and the Blind Community Thrift Store, all outfitted to some extent with the technology.
Mary’s Braille hopes the technology will be soon be in more places in the city.