NEWS: Mapping it for the disabled

KUALA LUMPUR: Two enterprising Malaysians have developed a mobile service that eases several problems faced by the disabled when they travel.

The service, based on cellphone technology, helps the disabled locate facilities reserved for them, such as dedicated parking lots, wheelchair ramps or other specially tailored entrances.

For now, the service is only for London but it can be applied to any city that has a cellular network, said one of the two Malaysians, Taufik Abdullah.

Taufik, who is president of mobile content developer Billadam.com, and CEO Amir Muhamad collaborated with London-based mapping company, the A-Z Map Company Ltd, to develop the service.

According to Amir, they decided to start developing the service for Britain because that country already has a mature smartphone market.

Also, he said, because about 20% of the British population are disabled and has a disposable income of about £80bil in total.

“This is a lucrative market and, the disabled community there comprises a large number of professionals and very independent individuals,” he added.

Both men were at the Multimedia Development Corp pavillion during the Klang Valley leg of The MSC Malaysia Great ICT sale recently.

The map service has been selected to be part of London’s Newham Borough community portal.

Extras

Taufik said a probable add-on to the service will be a tool that can be used to lessen the abuse of disabled-driver stickers and that of parking bays meant for the disabled.

The service will allow smartphone users to snap a picture of any driver whom they suspect of abusing such facilities and send it to the authorities for action to be taken.

“This will be a boon to the disabled because it makes abuse-reporting easy,” Taufik said.

Billadam also aims to improving the service’s user interface to make it more user-friendly. For example, it plans to offer a large-font interface to cater for users who are visually impaired.

Also, Billadam plans to include places of interest that offer disabled-friendly facilities, such as certain museums, parks, and shopping malls.

Taufik said they are also trying to rope in banks to subscribe to the service, to show where their automated teller machines (ATMs) for the disabled are located. Such ATMs are positioned lower to the ground for wheelchair-bound users.

Billadam plans to work with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, as well as several non-governmental organisations, to introduce its service in Malaysia.

As a Mimos Bhd technology recipient under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation’s Technology Licensing Programme, Billadam uses Symantec Corp expertise to develop its solutions.

Billadam had earlier worked with the A-Z Map Company to develop a mobile version of the London Streetmap.