Google Map’s Accessibility Feature Roll Out for People on Wheelchair

This may prove to be a good news for the 130 million people in the world who are dependent on wheelchairs, as Google has added a new Accessibility feature in Google Map that will provide many facilities to people on wheelchairs. Additionally Google added some new features for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

What is new feature?

This new feature is “Accessible Places” Yes, it will help persons with disabilities in wheelchairs to find and identify their accessible places. Text-to-speech transcription has been started for those who are also hearing impaired and there is also the option of a voice based vibration mode for these people.

How it works, What are its benefits?

After downloading the latest version of Google Map, you have to activate “Accessible Places”. After that, after going to Settings and activating Accessible Places, you will get the information of all those places which are out of reach of persons with disabilities on Google Map as wheel chair icon. Now clicking on these wheelchair icons, more information related to it can also be found. These places can be parking, seating area or accessible toilets, where they can be accessed through the help of “Accessible Places” feature of Google Map.

How to use ‘Accessible Places’ feature: Accessibility Feature

When you want to use this new feature, first you have to 1. download the latest version of Google Map and 2. activate “Accessible Places” in it. “Accessible Places” has been rolled out for both iOS and Android OS. The countries in which it has been rolled out are Japan, United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. It is likely to be launched soon in other countries as well. So you can see Accessible Places feature on Google Maps in these countries only.

Settings:

As given in Google support-

1. On Android phone or tablet, first open the Google Maps app.
2. Tap your profile picture or initial then go to Settings and finally you will see Accessibility settings.
3. Tap to activate Accessible places.

Accessible places display a wheelchair icon  in the results. as we discussed above.