MILAN, Italy, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Italian researchers say their iPhone application that can detect pedestrian crossings could help blind people safely cross streets more easily.
The app is dubbed ZebraLocalizer, from the common "zebra crossing" term for pedestrian crossings based on their alternating white stripes painted on roadways.
Developed at the University of Milan, the app takes advantage of the iPhone's built-in VoiceOver software, a screen reader that lets blind people launch and use apps, NewScientist.com reported Wednesday.
Users of the app hold the phone out in front of them as they walk so it can analyze images of the road ahead captured by the camera.
The app identifies the horizon, then looks for any white stripes in the street parallel to the horizon, a tell-tale sign of a zebra crossing.
Audio instructions from the phone guide the user to a crossing and then orientate them for a safe crossing.
Sergio Mascetti, the app's lead developer, said he hopes it will let blind people explore cities more readily.
"Most of the time they just repeat the path they do every day, for example home to work," Mascetti said. "It's unusual for them to take new routes."
One of his colleagues, who is blind, tested the app on his way home and discovered a new zebra crossing, realizing he had been taking a longer route than necessary, Mascetti said.
"It's great when something that you're working on can actually help people," he said.
