Earlier this month, Portland International Airport (PDX) expanded its partnership with GoodMaps after a successful pilot program.
PDX offers a free app to help travellers with a range of needs to safely navigate the airport space. The app uses LiDAR mapping technology and camera-based positioning to pinpoint a user’s location down to three feet of accuracy, and is designed to assist passengers who are blind and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, mobility impaired, or neurodiverse with audio-visual guidance of indoor spaces.
Pete de Vasto, member of the Port of Portland’s Accessibility Committee and traveller with total blindness said:
“Having GoodMaps at PDX opens up more possibilities for how I can travel and it’s great timing to have this update available now. The holiday season might be the one time of year that people with vision or hearing impairment travel and, with passengers encouraged to get to the airport even earlier during peak times, the app can help them locate the nearest restaurant or restroom and get back to their gate without assistance. Also, anyone arriving at PDX can use the app to find baggage claim or ground transportation. It’s truly a game changer.”
Pete also explained how the tech works: the smartphone’s camera takes a picture of where you are and and receives signals from all around the airport to map out exactly where the user is stood. From here, you simply tell it where you want to go and it will direct you.
The previous version of the app launched at PDX in January 2023. This latest edition features the following improvements:
- Navigation of all four concourses at PDX—B, C, D and E—as well as the ticket lobby and baggage claim. Areas of the terminal currently being remodeled or developed will be mapped or re-mapped as they open.
- An AR view that offers users a new visual experience alongside 2D maps of PDX.
- An improved “Step Free” feature that provides users with mobility impairments an option for a step-free route through the airport.
Working to make travel accessible for all, this technology gives passengers agency, helping a range of travellers to navigate the airport independently.
For more like this see:
- United’s next steps for improving accessibility
- 360-video to improve airport accessibility
- IGA Istanbul Airport paves the way for accessibility
