Safe & sound

Sushil Manav

This comes as good news for millions of people with special needs — Chandigarh-based IT professional Indu Chauhan has come up with a new mobile App “Feelsafe Maps”! The app has won the first prize of Rs 1 lakh in AppmyIndia Hackathon organised recently by MapmyIndia. 

“Feelsafe Maps uses technology through which over 15 million visually, speech and hearing impaired people can take advantage of MapmyIndia application programme interface (API), which will help them become independent and also stay safe. It acts like a personal secretary and a virtual friend to its consumers,” says Indu. Her app will integrate with the National Crime Record Bureau to gather data and will use artificial intelligence to tell users about suspected crime locations. 

“The app is in speak mode and feel mode for the convenience of people with special needs,” says Indu’s husband Apurav, who is a software engineer and has helped his wife in this venture.

Dual mode

Speak mode: In speak mode, any user can interact with the app directly by speaking and then telling it the location required. The app will start giving directions when the user asks it to navigate. While navigating, the app will caution the user about any possible crime location nearby, based on history of the location. This mode is very useful for those who can’t see, as they can use it to become independent. It will also be useful for normal people, as they can go hands-free while travelling to unknown locations even while using MapmyIndia map API.

Feel mode: It is built for people who can’t speak, hear and see. It uses proprietary implementation of Morse code, which is very easy for people with the knowledge of Braille. These users can communicate with the app using a combination of long and short taps when seeking directions to a location. The app communicates the message via Morse code transmitted via your phone’s vibration.