Interesting article about the BBnav satellite navigation system for disabled travellers in Issue 75. You might also like to pass on to your readers these other options:
http://www.gonmad.co.uk
This site has blue badge parking; accessible toilets and shopmobility schemes
around the world and is contributed to by the people who use them, or
good hearted people, who see the benefits to disabled people, taking the
time to add to these.
I wrote to my local council asking them to add the blue badge bays to the site. All locations can be downloaded as a point of interest (POI) to a variety of sat nav systems.
http://www.smartnav.com
Smartnav is Trafficmaster's satellite navigation system and is the one that Motability install into complex adaptations, my son’s vehicle has this installed as voice only, but it can have a graphic device fitted as well.
In addition to the normal sat nav guidance it uses GPS to locate a vehicle in the event of a breakdown and an immediate link (press of a button) via mobile phone SIM to the customer service centre.
Using the link, a driver can ask for an operator to program in a destination and download it to the car system. This is particular useful for those people with learning disabilities who find programming an address difficult.
David Bridge
Chairman, Disability & Accessibility Group, Ford of Europe