Sendero GPS
BrailleNote BT and VoiceNote BT
(Braille Keyboard)
User Guide
V3.5


Sendero Group LLC
1118 Maple Lane
Davis, CA  95616
Telephone  (530) 757-6800. Fax  (530) 757-6830
E-mail:  	gps@senderogroup.com
World Wide Web:     http://www.senderogroup.com



COPYRIGHT NOTICES

Trademarks:
All products are trademarks of their respective owners.


Copyright Notice:
Copyright (c) 2002-2006 Sendero Group, LLC and HumanWare Group, Limited
Map data copyright (c) Tele Atlas.
A limited license to reproduce this user guide is given for the purpose of providing copies to people with visual or reading disabilities (including individuals with motor or learning disabilities) for their individual use.



IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL USERS 

Sendero's BrailleNote GPS is a product designed to convey most of the information displayed on commercial GPS receivers and location databases to people with visual disabilities.  However,


 BrailleNote 
GPS has similar limitations as commercial GPS products.  These limitations include:

*	Lack of information about the physical road characteristics such as: elevation, overpasses/underpasses, bridges, and sidewalks, 
traffic controls, construction and other hazards.

* 	Map accuracy in newly developed areas

*	Traffic and weather conditions.

*	Loss of GPS signals due to tall buildings or other interference.

Additionally, the routes that you create may not be safe or possible to follow.  The individual user is wholly responsible for all issues related to personal safety and mobility.  HumanWare Group, Sendero Group and its distributors advise all users that BrailleNote GPS is not a substitute for mobility skills with a cane or guide dog and recommends that users have good mobility skills before using GPS orientation information to travel.  HumanWare Group, Sendero Group and its distributors assume no liability for accidents or injuries that occur to users of any of our GPS products.



Table of Contents

1	Foreword.	page 6

1.1	Scenarios.	page 6

2	GPS General Information.  page 10

2.1	Context Sensitive Help.	page 10

2.2	Resetting during a GPS session.	page 11

2.3	Copy Protection. page 11

2.4	Exiting a GPS session.	page 11

2.5	KeySoft Version.	 page 11

2.6	Switching Between Tasks. page 12

3	BrailleNote GPS Concepts.	page 13

3.1	Use Good Judgment.	page 13

3.2	About GPS Satellites.	page 13

3.3	Signal Blind Spots.	page 14

3.4	Using GPS indoors or in a Vehicle.	page 14

3.5	Picking Up Satellite Signals.	page 15

3.6	GPS and map data accuracy.	page 15

4	Installing BrailleNote GPS Software.   page 16
	
5	About Maps.	page 17

5.1	Map Storage.	page 17

5.2	How the BrailleNote locates Map Files. page 18
	
5.3	Transferring downloaded or CD or DVD disc maps to the BrailleNote. page 18

6	Installing GPS Receivers.	page 19

6.1	How to Wear the GPS.	page 19

6.2	General Receiver information.	page 20

6.3	Getting Oriented using GPS.	page 22

7	BrailleNote GPS Software.	page 23

7.1	Looking around using GPS.	page 24

7.2	Maps and Routes.	page 24

7.3	The GPS Menu.	page 25

7.4	GPS Options Menu. page 25

7.5	Map and Points of Interest Folder.	page 26

7.6	Heading Mode, L for Left/Right or C for Clock mode.	page 27

7.7	Street Names.	page 27

7.8	Units.	page 28

7.9	Sounds.	 page 28

7.10	Arrival Distance.	page 29

7.11	Repeat-Interval.	page 29

7.12	GPS Receiver Type.	page 30

7.13	Recalculate Route. 	page 30

7.14 	Braille Display Delay	page 30

7.15	SPACEBAR Repeat Last Command page 30

8	Setting a Destination.	page 31

8.1	Selecting an address and setting it as a destination, POI or Virtual position.	page 32

8.2	Setting Latitude and Longitude (Lat/Lon) positions.	page 35

9	Recording and following Routes.	page 38

9.1	About Routes and Waypoints.	page 38

9.2	Street classifications.	page 38

9.3	How to Create an Automatic Route.	page 40

9.4	Route Commands.	page 41

9.5	Inserting Waypoints in Automatic Routes.	page 45

9.6	Tips on following a vehicular route.	page 46

9.7	Trigger distances.	page 47

9.8	Automatic Heading and Distance Announcements.	 page 48

10	Creating a Route without maps.	page 49

10.1	How to Create a manual Route.	page 49

10.2	Entering Manual Waypoints.	page 50

10.3	Editing Waypoints.	page 51

10.4	Tips for Setting Quality Route Waypoints.	page 52

11	Points of Interest (POIs).	page 53

11.1	Finding Points of Interest.	page 53

11.2	Creating User Points of Interest.	page 55

12	Looking Around.	page 59

12.1	Automatic Look Around Mode	page 59

12.2	Multiple Repeat Mode.	page 61

12.3	Manual Look Around Mode	page 62

13	Virtual Mode.	page 65

13.1	Virtual Explore Mode	page 65

14	Miscellaneous Functions.	 page 68


14.1	Append to Clipboard. page 68

14.2	The Pedometer.	page 68

14.3	Speed Announcement.	page 68

14.4	Compass Heading.	page 68

14.5	Setting GPS Time.	page 69

14.6	Altitude.	page 69





1	Foreword.
Welcome to the world of location literacy, the power to know your location and surroundings when you are finding your way. Before we get into the details of how the many features work, we will take a moment to describe the big picture, offering you access to information about your 
environment never before available.

GPS satellites and massive location databases combine to create the potential for every square meter on earth to have a label. Add the 


BrailleNote to this equation and every location label can be accessible. The GPS satellites can be picked up anywhere in the world. Commercial maps and databases are being created with millions of points in most developed countries. Increasing consumer demand for these technologies is driving improvements for more accurate location information.

Here is how the BrailleNote brings this Location Information to you. Once you are tracking satellites with the GPS receiver, the latitude and longitude for your position is communicated by the receiver to the BrailleNote. That 
position can then be compared with the database of maps and points of interest in the BrailleNote. There are various commands that will give you directions and distances to specific points, streets or waypoints along an 
automatically created route. This communication between the receiver and the BrailleNote is transparent other than telling you how many satellites are being tracked.

1.1	Scenarios
So, now that you have the Global Positioning System and a database of streets and landmarks, what kinds of things can you do with it? Here is 
where the fun begins! 

For example:

I am a blind person in a car or bus, with minimal knowledge about the environmental information whizzing by my vehicle. I turn on my BrailleNote GPS and the Point of Interest “look-around” mode automatically announces points of interest within 500 feet when I am traveling between 5 and 40 miles per hour and within a mile when traveling faster than 40 miles per hour. When I want to look further away, I use the Find command (F) to see where to stop for lunch.    


I want to find a restaurant called Café Italia and to be routed to it. I know it is roughly 30 to 50 miles away. I press the Advance Find (SPACE with F) command; enter 30 miles for the starting distance, 50 miles for the ending distance, enter restaurant for the category, and Café Italia when it asks me for the search string. I now press SPACE with D to set it as my destination and R then V to create a vehicular route from my current position to Café Italia, complete with waypoints, turns and distances. I am now literally the blind back-seat navigator informing the driver of upcoming turns and exits.

We have friends visiting and once we finish lunch, we want to do a little sight seeing. So I know what of interest is in the vicinity of Cafe Italia, I switch to the BrailleNote’s Virtual mode with the V (Virtual) command and my virtual position is set to Café Italia. I now use the simple Find command (F) to hear what points of interest are near the Café. Everything from museums to recreational horseback riding facilities may show up as I scroll through the database of nearby points with the SPACE with dot 4. 

Once we settle on a place to visit, I toggle back to the GPS Mode with the V and create a pedestrian route with R then P to get us to our destination.

Today, I am riding through San Francisco on a bus and want to learn more about the route the bus is taking and the points we pass by. The Look-
Around mode is already turned on and will announce the nearby points of interest and intersections within 500 feet. I now hear the street I am traveling on plus the next intersecting street. For good measure, I set my 
destination to the street address so I have some advance warning to pack up my things to get off the bus. If I verbalized to the other passengers what I was reading on my Braille display or hearing from my earphone, I could be a city tour-guide.


My friend is an avid blind sailor and is independently sailing around the world. Along with all his high-tech sailing equipment, he is plotting his course on his VoiceNote GPS. He has worked out a route with latitude/longitudes for each key turning point in his route. He enters each of these in a new User Point of Interest file and names the respective points, Dead Man’s Cove, Ship Wreck Alley and so forth. He changes the repeat interval from 12 seconds to 300 seconds so he can automatically receive updates to adjust his course every 5 minutes. Now, all he has to do is hope for fair weather.

I am traveling to Chicago and want to familiarize myself with the street layout and restaurants near my intended hotel so that I can set a meeting. To speed up setting my virtual position, I do a search on the Internet for the city or hotel’s lat/lon and set my virtual position accordingly. I can use the Virtual Explore mode to wander around the streets before I even leave 
on the trip. Once I feel comfortable navigating the streets, I then use the Find command (SPACE with F) to search for nearby restaurants. I will 
then send the directions and the name of the restaurant to my colleagues.

My friend, who is blind, likes to get out and about but she has a terrible sense of direction. She seldom explores on her own because it is so 
frustrating and embarrassing to be lost. We set a new destination in an area with which she is familiar and then set out in a car with her acting as the navigator, telling the driver which way to turn in order to reach the destination. In this way with the BrailleNote on her lap, she can 
concentrate on the information and directions without worrying about her mobility. She presses M for Multiple repeat and D for destination and hears the 
heading and direction repeated every twelve seconds. This is the only piece of information she is dealing with, using the “getting warmer” method to get to the destination. After we arrive at the destination, we go back to where we started and ask the BrailleNote for an automatic route and make a similar trip with instructions from point to point. The BrailleNote provides the directions and reassurance my friend needs to travel independently on her own. She isn’t actually on her own after all, she has Sendero's GPS.



As you can see from reading these scenarios, there are two general ways to use the BrailleNote GPS. The first and probably most popular use of the GPS information is simply to be aware of one’s environment with the “look-around” options. Traditionally, a blind person might get one percent of location information through a “sighted filter.” With Sendero GPS, a 
blind user can independently “look around” and hear what businesses, addresses and intersections are nearby.

The second general use of the BrailleNote GPS is to navigate to a specific destination along an automatically planned route. One can also create 
manual routes or edit automatic routes either in pedestrian oriented or vehicular routes. These routes can of course be used in conjunction with 
the Look-Around information.

Sendero GPS provides the opportunity for users to get information beyond the reach of their 4 good senses. Even visually impaired users will see how valuable it is to know the names on signs they can see but not read. 

Information can be discerned far beyond the reach of the visual sense if the user chooses. The BrailleNote and the continually evolving vast 
quantity of electronic location information gives the blind user entertaining and valuable access to the environment through which he or she can more independently travel.






2	GPS General Information.

This User Guide is for use with the BrailleNote and VoiceNote BT models.  

The keystrokes described are for the Braille Type keyboard.  There are duplicate BT keys for some commands to facilitate one-handed operation of common functions, please see the Command summary document.

The information in this GPS User Guide covers the items specific to the BrailleNote and VoiceNote GPS software.  General operating instructions for the BrailleNote and VoiceNote are in their respective User Guides.  

Details about GPS receivers are in their respective manuals and in the Getting Started document in the Documents folder on the Compact Flash card.  Late breaking information about the most recent GPS version can be found in the Read Me document in the Documents folder on the Compact Flash card.  The terms BrailleNote or Sendero GPS will be used from here on to describe the system whether it is on a BrailleNote or a VoiceNote.



2.1	Context Sensitive Help.
Context Sensitive Help is available throughout the GPS application as it is elsewhere in the BrailleNote.  To hear information relevant to the menu or mode you are in, including a selection of command options, Press SPACE with H. The commands are grouped by category under Help and alphabetically in the Quick Reference Guide.  The complete list of commands can be accessed from the GPS Menu.





2.2	Resetting during a GPS session.
There is no way other than doing a “no-key” Reset to interrupt a long route calculation. You might accidentally begin a 500 mile route calculation and then change your mind. For longer routes you will be asked to confirm that you want to create your route before the program will continue.  If it is necessary to reset the BrailleNote, the pedometer will be reset to zero and a route won’t be saved if you have not already done so. Your last GPS position and Lat/Lon will be erased. Otherwise, there should be little impact from pressing Reset. 



2.3	Copy Protection.
Each copy of the GPS software is serialized to a specific BrailleNote or VoiceNote. The GPS receiver can be used on multiple units but the GPS software is specific to a particular unit’s serial number. The software, Points of Interest and map data for the countries you purchased are licensed for use on your machine only. User defined Points of Interest can be shared.  You may also hear the copy protection referred to as a security key, or as Digital Rights Management.



2.4	Exiting a GPS session.
When you exit the GPS application, the destination you have set is saved. 
Other positions like your last GPS position and Virtual position are also saved as are your mode settings. 



2.5	KeySoft Version.
See the ReadMe document for the latest KeySoft and GPS version compatibility.  There are many benefits to upgrading to the latest KeySoft version. For upgrade information, contact your local BrailleNote distributor.   



2.6	Switching Between Tasks.
You may use any of the BrailleNote hot keys to switch to applications like the Word Processor or Calculator. However, as of this writing, there is not a hot key to switch back to the GPS application. When this changes, it will be noted in the Read Me file and Command List in the Documents folder provided on the Compact Flash card with the GPS program. You can go into the BrailleNote Options menu without leaving the GPS application.  You can also check the time or run the stop watch.  On the PK and mPower, you can keep the MP3 player running and use the memo recorder while in the GPS application. 

 



3	BrailleNote GPS Concepts.
This section covers some of the concepts, issues and background information about the Global Positioning System.  A compilation of GPS accuracy documents is contained in the Documents folder.



3.1	Use Good Judgment.
This product is an excellent navigation aid, but it does not replace the need for careful orientation and good judgment.  Never rely solely on GPS or any one device for navigating.



3.2	About GPS Satellites.
The U.S. Government operates the Global Positioning System (GPS), and is solely responsible for the accuracy and maintenance of GPS.  Certain conditions can make the system less accurate.   
There are 24 U.S. military satellites in the Global Positioning System, 12 in each hemisphere, and they circuit the earth twice a day.  Although your receiver may be able to pick up as many as 12 satellites, three or more signals are necessary to determine the GPS position. Some GPS receivers offer additional accuracy through the use of a fixed (geostationary) satellite called WAAS, Wide Area Augmentation System.  

It is possible to get a reading of Good with 4 or more satellites or Poor with 5 or more satellites. A Good reading is better than a Poor reading no matter the number of satellites. The quality of the satellite signal determines the quality rating announced to you. You will only hear Very Good if the extra WAAS satellite is engaged. The user has no control over the WAAS satellite detection, this feature will automatically turn on and report when it is available from the satellite.
A similar system in Europe called EGNOS is being implemented and is indicated with the Very Good rating. In the past, the military distorted the GPS signals used by civilians for national security reasons, a process which is called Selective Availability.  This was turned off in May 2000 but it may be reinstated if they wish. This hasn’t happened as of the writing of this manual 6 years after they improved the signals.






3.3	Signal Blind Spots.
Since the GPS receiver detects information from satellites orbiting the earth, the antenna needs to have a relatively unobstructed view of the sky.  
Large obstructions such as buildings, cliffs, and overhangs may interfere with signal reception, reducing accuracy or eliminating tracking altogether.  
This is called the “urban canyon effect.” For example, if you were in a city with 50 story buildings on all sides, the satellite signals would be blocked completely.  However, if there is a tall building on one side only, you may 
still be able to receive enough signals from other satellites to determine a position.
Changing your location by even a few feet can make a difference.  For instance, walking on the outer edge of a sidewalk versus up against the 
building may help.  Positioning yourself on a corner at an intersection may also help.  There is a better view of satellites while in a car in the street versus up against a building.

The location of the receiver on your body may also make a difference to reception.  If you are among tall buildings or near an overhang, you may 
begin tracking faster if you hold the receiver up and away from your body.  Face away from the building.  Once the receiver begins tracking, it should continue doing so attached to the BrailleNote shoulder strap. If you need 
to have it inside a backpack or enclosed because of rain or snow, the GPS signals should be picked up through clothing or vinyl materials.

It so happens that among tall buildings in big cities, where GPS is less reliable, there are more people to ask for directions.  Out in the open where there are fewer people to ask for directions, the GPS availability and accuracy is best.  Isn’t this convenient?



3.4	Using GPS indoors or in a Vehicle.
GPS signals cannot usually be picked up in-doors; however you may be able to pick up signals inside a house with a wooden roof or inside a bus with a 
fiberglass roof.  You may also be successful in picking up signals with the receiver in the window of a bus or train.  There should be no problem with the receiver on the dash or window of a car. (Note: highly tinted and mirrored windows can block satellites.)
Although you can often pick up a signal from a plane, you must get permission to use the GPS receiver on most commercial airlines. You may 
pick up signals from the window of an aircraft but you have a limited view of the sky because of the small window.





3.5	Picking Up Satellite Signals.
The GPS receiver needs to track at least 3 satellites to determine a position.  
Some receivers may provide an approximate position with less than 3 satellites.  
Once the receiver acquires a position, the information is sent to your BrailleNote through the serial cable or Bluetooth connection.  It can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes before a position is tracked depending upon how long it has been since you last turned the receiver on and how clear a view of the sky 
you have.
During this acquisition period, you will get the message: no fix, acquiring satellites. If your GPS receiver is not connected or there is a problem between the receiver and the BrailleNote, you will see the message: “Turn on your GPS 
receiver or press V for Virtual Mode”. In this case, make sure your receiver is turned on and that the data cable is firmly attached to your BrailleNote. If you still cannot acquire satellites, see the Getting Started document for your receiver, which is in the Documents folder of the storage card.

Once you have acquired a GPS position fix and have started moving, the receiver calculates the change in your position approximately every second using the satellite signals.  The average of your heading is calculated to minimize the variations in heading due to GPS fluctuations. In 10 to 30 feet (3 to 10 meters) your direction of travel is determined and can be announced on the BrailleNote.  Until you begin moving in a consistent direction, the direction you are facing cannot be determined.  So keep in mind which direction you were heading before you stopped walking. 
When you stop moving, your heading should be locked on your most recent direction of travel.    If you spin around in circles, you must begin walking for 30 feet (10 meters) or so before your new direction of travel can be announced accurately. When you make a turn, walk for several seconds before asking for a heading. Direction of travel under 2 miles per hour may be unreliable.



3.6	GPS and map data accuracy. 
To maximize the information and navigation benefits of your BrailleNote GPS, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the 
Global Positioning System.  You can improve your use of the GPS location information by knowing how the system works.
The accuracy scale in the BrailleNote GPS software is geared so you know how much to trust the information.  If BrailleNote GPS says “Poor, 1050 feet, 3 satellites” before giving you your location, note the large accuracy  distance of 1050 feet, this is the best indication how much to trust the GPS information.  Move a little and try again to double check.  Try to get in a more open area so you can get better accuracy.  Bear in mind that you must be tracking satellites for 30 feet (10 meters), or more before your direction of travel can be determined. 

The ratings are: 

No Fix, Poor, Fair, Good and Very Good.






4	Installing BrailleNote GPS Software.
This section explains how to install the GPS software and data on your BrailleNote. If you purchased the GPS and BrailleNote at the same time, the GPS software should already be installed for you and it is not necessary to install it, although if you need to reinstall the software for any reason, the GPS installation executable file should be on the Compact Flash memory card or back-up CD supplied with your GPS.

If you have purchased the GPS as an accessory, you will need to install the software on your BrailleNote according to the following instructions. 

1)	Feel along the back of the BrailleNote and you will find the Compact Flash Card slot.  Insert the card into this slot.  It will only go in one way properly.  It takes a little pressure to press it in the last quarter inch or so.  Do not force it.  If it does not plug in all the way, flip the card over.  Note: If you have an earlier model BrailleNote with only the PCMCIA slot in the right hand side, you will first need to put the Compact Flash card into a PC card adapter and then into the PCMCIA slot.

2)	If you need to install the GPS software, hold down Dots 1-2-3 on the Braille keyboard.  Press and release RESET and continue holding the keys down until you hear the chime.

3)	From the Main Menu, press U for Utilities.

4)	Press A for Applications.

5)	The prompt:  “Run program from which drive?” displays.  Press C for Compact Flash card. (or S for the PCMCIA slot).

6)	You are prompted for the Directory. Press ENTER for none.

7)	Select the GPS program installation file, press ENTER and follow the prompts.  If it says “command line”, just press ENTER. If you receive any messages about installing over newer files, ignore this and press ENTER to continue installing.   If you get a message about files being in use, this means the three finger reset did not work properly.  Try it again and make sure to hold the three keys down until the second audio chime, about ten seconds after the reset beep.

8)	When the installation is completed, you are instructed to do a No Key Reset, by pressing the reset button.  Your GPS software is now ready to go.

If it is necessary to do a Hard Reset, i.e. with dots 4-5-6 held down, some of the GPS program files may be lost and it is necessary to reinstall the GPS program. 
If you try to open the GPS program and hear a message about a missing file, "please reinstall", the GPS program located on the root of your compact flash card.  Note that Reset on the PK is C3 and C4 held down together.  C1 and C4 held for about 10 seconds issues a system reset and another C1/C4 will turn the PK back on.




5	About Maps.

Maps are an integral part of the GPS software's capabilities. The map data is developed and maintained by TeleAtlas and licensed to Sendero Group for use in the BrailleNote GPS. It is anticipated that map data updates may be available about once a year.  Updated Maps and POIs can be downloaded from http://www.mysendero.com. The BrailleNote serial number and a password are required.

The entire U.S. map data occupies over 6 GB.  These maps are compiled by states for the U.S. There are up to 4 map files for each state map section.  Some states are broken up into more than one section, for example California is split into 4 sections and there is an additional city index file.  There are 13 map files for California.    The UK, Canada, Holland, Austria and Spain come on one CD each.  Germany and France are on multiple CDs. Each country is arranged according to its data size. At this writing, 17 European countries are within the Sendero license and each will be rolled out as demand and funding permits. Check the Sendero Group web site for the status of available countries at http://www.senderogroup.com.



5.1	Map Storage. 
As we said, the entire U.S. map data is available for download from http://www.mysendero.com or on CDs or DVDs included in your shipping package for new systems.  
You probably received a Compact Flash card with the files comprising your state map already in the root of the Maps folder. You can have up to 12 states in a given map folder on the Classic and 75 on the PK or mPower, however, access times and software is more stable with fewer states loaded.  
The GPS software looks automatically for map files in the root of the Maps folder of the Compact Flash or PC card.  You can however define a different location under the Map Folder option in the GPS Options Menu including the SD card on the mPower.  A map folder can contain no more than 12 states, 75 states on PK or mPower, at a time.  Just make sure the files themselves are in the user-defined map folder as opposed to having the state as a sub folder.  A lower number of maps in the folder will make some functions run faster.
All maps could be transferred to a large storage card (like an 8 GB Compact Flash card or micro drive) or individual maps to a smaller card. 

Be careful when deleting or copying map files that the entire group of files per state is selected.  Some states are divided into multiple map segments. 
If you are likely to be changing maps often, we recommend keeping each group of state files in its own directory. For example, Maps Southeast, Maps Northwest, etc.  The maps are in alphabetical order on the CDs or DVDs.  A listing of which maps are on which disc is also in the ReadMe document.
As of this writing, DC is part of the Maryland maps.
HumanWare recommends removing micro drives or compact flash cards from the BrailleNote when it is turned off or before resetting in order to avoid battery drain or accidental erasure of data.





5.2	How the BrailleNote locates Map Files.
When you first enter the GPS application, the software searches for a user-defined map folder if there is one. If not, it looks for a “Maps” folder on the PC card, Compact Flash card, and on the SD card. A swishing sound indicates that map-loading is in progress. The more map files in the folder, the longer it takes to load. The number of maps found is announced when the loading is complete. If there is a corrupt map file, the state in question will be indicated. If you get a message saying “unable to initialize map engine”, either try again to load from the Main Menu, reset the BrailleNote or remove and reinsert the storage medium.



5.3	Transferring downloaded or CD or DVD disc maps to the BrailleNote.
Transferring files from a PC to the BrailleNote can be accomplished in a number of ways using a PC or laptop, assuming it has a CD or DVD drive.  
1)	For CD or DVD disc transfers, put the CD or DVD you wish to transfer into the CD or DVD drive.
2)	Open Windows Explorer and locate the downloaded maps folder or CD or DVD drive and its contents.
3)	Also using Windows Explorer, find the location of the CompactFlash card.  There are three ways you could access the CompactFlash card:
a)	If you have a PC or laptop with a PCMCIA slot, or a PCMCIA card reader attached to your PC, you can put the CompactFlash card into an adapter card and use this. You can also use a PCMCIA style Micro Drive for map storage, however these are typically slower than CompactFlash cards and use more BrailleNote battery power.
b)	If you have a PC or laptop with a CompactFlash card reader/writer you can insert your CompactFlash card directly into this.
c)	If you have a Compact Flash card reader that plugs into your PC (usually plugs into the USB port), you can insert the card into the reader. It is not recommended to transfer maps via ActiveSync as this can take a long time and may be interrupted. 
4)	In Windows Explorer, select and copy the files of the Map data.
5)	Paste them into the appropriate directory on the Compact Flash card, making sure you get all files associated with a particular map.  States which have multiple segments will have one additional file for the whole state.  For example, California has 13 files, 3 for each of the 4 state sections and 1 for the state city index with an extension of CTY.  There will also be Points of Interest files beginning with the version number like 35 for GPS version 3.5.  For example, 35California_Core.bpi.  Note the BPI extension for Points of Interest files.  Beginning with GPS version 3.5, map and POI files for each state are kept in the same folder.


6	Installing GPS Receivers.
For details and operating instructions, see the Getting Started document in the Documents folder under the Receivers sub folder. Choose the file that matches the name of the receiver that came with your GPS package.  



6.1	How to Wear the GPS.
For pedestrian travel, the GPS receiver tracks satellites best when located on top of your shoulder facing the sky. You will find a belt clip on the receiver case to secure your GPS receiver onto the BrailleNote strap.  
Which hand you operate the BrailleNote with depends upon which hand is occupied with a cane or dog.  The shoulder strap is reversible so experiment with which configuration feels best for you.  If your right shoulder is through the strap, you would probably put the GPS receiver on your left shoulder and vice versa.  To switch the strap, unclip the shoulder strap from the BrailleNote and reverse it.  Make sure that the cable is not hanging loose if you have a serial receiver.  There is a Velcro cable channel below the belt-clip loop on the strap.  Tuck the cable into this channel and push any extra cable into the accessory pouch or into any other convenient place.
Note, for operation in a vehicle, you may wish to put the receiver on the back dash of a car or clip it near or on a window. (Keep it away from the air bag as the receiver could become a missile if the air bag deploys).


6.2	General Receiver information.
See the GPS receiver manual for details and functions not addressed in this user guide.
To get started: 

1)	Turn the receiver on. See the Getting Started manual to learn about the receiver controls. 

2)	Place the receiver in a location open to the sky where you can begin acquiring GPS satellites.  The receiver should have a relatively unobstructed view of the sky.  When you travel to a new area or if the unit has been off for several days, for instance when you first use the receiver, it may take longer to determine a position fix.
Once you have turned the BrailleNote on and selected the GPS application from the main menu and Start from the GPS menu, you should hear, "GPS detected". 
That is the indication that your receiver is connected properly. If you hear, "Turn on your GPS receiver or press V for Virtual Mode.", check the steps above and try again. When you turn the receiver off, wait 5 seconds or so and you will hear the Lose Fix sound and KeySoft says: "Turn on your GPS receiver or press V for Virtual Mode." This is one way to make sure that you have turned the power off on your serial GPS receiver.  This process is not recommended for Bluetooth GPS receivers.  You should turn the receiver power off when not using the GPS program in order to conserve the receiver’s battery power.  


6.2.1	Accuracy of GPS Announcements.
First, check your accuracy a couple times by pressing the GPS Accuracy command, G.  If you are tracking satellites when you press G, you will 
hear:

“WAAS (if available), Approximate accuracy distance, Tracking X satellites”

For example, you might hear “13 feet, 10 satellites.”  If it first says “WAAS,” that indicates that you have the highest grade of accuracy.  If you are tracking more than 3 satellites, the receiver uses the best 4 satellites available.  It is not only the number of satellites that determines position quality but also the relative position of the satellites to each other.  Because of atmospheric anomalies, there are times when positions are inaccurate for no obvious reason.  If you are tracking less than 3 satellites when you press G, you will hear:

"No Fix, Acquiring Satellites"

To get more GPS tracking details, press Q for GPS quality.   If you are tracking satellites when you press Q, you will hear:

“GPS accuracy rating, Approximate Accuracy distance, Tracking X satellites, HDOP and VDOP status”

The GPS accuracy ratings are Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor, and No fix.  Horizontal Dilution of Precision (HDOP) and Vertical Dilution of Precision (VDOP) are measures of the GPS receiver/satellite geometry.  A low DOP value indicates better relative geometry and higher corresponding accuracy.  Accuracies may range from three to a thousand feet but will average in the 30 foot range.

Finally. the last way to check how well you are tracking is with the Heading function in the GPS program.  Once you are heading in a given direction of travel, press the Heading command Dot 5 repeatedly to ensure that you are getting consistent compass heading information. Try to move at least 2 miles per hour as slower speeds will result in inaccurate heading information.  This will not only impact your heading but all information relative to your heading such as Points of Interest or your destination.
See BrailleNote GPS Concepts for more details on satellite and data accuracy.



6.3	Getting Oriented using GPS.
When you first come out of a building or subway, you have not yet established a GPS direction of travel, and the receiver cannot determine 
which direction you are facing until you start moving.  There are a couple of things you can do to get headed in the proper direction:

You can start walking and get a compass direction from your BrailleNote.  
If you do not intuitively know the cardinal compass directions, having a talking or tactile compass can assist you in heading directly to your destination as announced by the BrailleNote GPS.  Even if you do not start moving, the absolute position of your destination as announced on the BrailleNote GPS should be reliable. If you head out in the wrong direction, you will be notified within 30 feet, 10 meters, if you are traveling in a pedestrian route and 100 feet, 30 meters, if you are traveling in a vehicular route.  If you do not have a route recorded, 
you can still work your way to your destination using the “getting warmer” method.  Try to get the destination to be announced ahead of you at the 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock or 1 o'clock positions.  Once you get close to the destination, the announcement starts to move away from the 12 o’clock heading.  When it gets to your 3 o’clock (right) or 9 o’clock (left) position, it is time to make a 90-degree turn.  This does not tell you if there is a through street, but it gets you in the vicinity.  You also want the destination distance to steadily decline as you move toward it.  If it suddenly increases, double and triple check the distance so you know you are not getting a bogus reading.  You may very well have veered off track but it is best to make sure.  Never trust the GPS information exclusively. 
Direction of travel is not an issue in Virtual mode where your direction is determined by the automatic route creation.



7	Sendero GPS Software.

This chapter introduces the basics of the BrailleNote GPS, the location information part of the BrailleNote KeySoft software, and describes how to create and load routes and points of interest.
There are several ways of using the information from the GPS:

*	Use the points of interest and map information provided to look around and get oriented,

*	Create automatic routes using the map information for either pedestrian or vehicle use,

*	Create manual routes in areas where there is no map information,

*	Create your own points of interest to add to the commercial points,

*	Navigate on the map without going outside in Virtual Explore mode,

*	Or, use a combination of all of these options.

Each of these options is detailed throughout the manual.





7.1	Looking around using GPS.

The BrailleNote GPS provides a means of accessing information about your environment, through speech, Braille or both. This information can 
be invaluable for getting oriented in a strange, or even familiar, environment.
The announcement of nearby points of interest (POIs) and street information may let you know you are in a familiar area as well as allowing 
the opportunity to choose one as a destination.  This is often the way sighted people orient, by using nearby landmarks and signs to know that 
they are in a familiar or unfamiliar area.  The local maps and Points of Interest databases allow the environment to talk to you through the 
BrailleNote so a blind person can also orient in this fashion.



7.2	Maps and Routes.

The second general use of the BrailleNote GPS is to navigate to a specific destination along an automatically planned route. One can also create 
manual routes or edit an automatically created pedestrian or vehicular route. These routes can of course be used in conjunction with the Look-
Around information. See the Foreword for examples of the use of routes and Look-Around information.





7.3	The GPS Menu.

To select the GPS application, begin from the Main Menu and press SPACE repeatedly until the “Navigation” or “GPS Menu” is displayed, and then press ENTER.  Alternatively, just press NN or NS to load and start the program.  Note, the menu item changed from GPS to Navigation with the release of KeySoft 7. If you have an earlier version of KeySoft, press GG or GS to load and start the program.
After Navigation is selected you hear:  "Loading maps, please wait… x Maps loaded.  GPS Menu " where x is the number of maps.

The menu options in the GPS menu and their uses are as follows:

"Start GPS" Open the GPS application.

“Options” Change any of the GPS program settings.

“Edit User.poi file” Make changes to User POIs.

“Quick Reference Guide” Display the GPS Reference Guide which is an alphabetic list of all the commands.

“User’s Manual” Display the GPS User’s Manual.
As with the Main Menu, you can review the GPS Menu by pressing SPACE or BACKSPACE, and you can select from it by pressing ENTER.  

Alternatively, you can select most items directly from the GPS Menu by pressing the initial letter, such as O for "Options."



7.4	GPS Options Menu.
You can access the GPS Options Menu either from within the GPS program by pressing O or from the GPS Menu either by pressing SPACE repeatedly until you hear “GPS Options” then press ENTER, or by pressing O in the GPS menu.  The GPS Options Menu is comprised of the following options:

*	Map and Points of Interest Folder 

*	Heading Mode, L for Left/Right or C for Clock mode, default Left/Right

*	Street Names, L for Long, S for Short, default Short

*	Units, I for Imperial, M for Metric, default Imperial

*	Sounds, Turn sounds on/off or hear samples of alert sounds

*	Arrival Distance, default 50 feet

*	Repeat-Interval, default 12 seconds

*	GPS Receiver Type, B for Bluetooth, G for Serial GPS, M for Magellan, C for Compact Flash, and S for Storage Card, XYZ for Custom GPS receiver type. The default is Serial GPS on the BrailleNote/VoiceNote Classic and Bluetooth on the BrailleNote PK and mPower.

*	Recalculate Route, Default is Automatic for PK and mPower, Default is Manual for BrailleNote Classic

* 	Braille Display Delay, default is 1 second

*	SPACEBAR Repeat Last Command, default is enabled


To select an option, move through the menu until the required option is displayed, and then press ENTER.  Alternatively, from anywhere in the 
Options Menu, press the initial letter of your choice. 



7.5	Map and POI Folder.

In this option you can set the folder where the GPS software will look for map and POI data. You can easily change the Map and POI Folder. The default folder name is Maps on the Compact Flash or Storage Card. 

To set the folder, select the Map and POI Folder item and choose the drive and folder containing the map files in the same manner as selecting any folder on the BrailleNote. Pay attention to the confirmation message after you set the folder to make sure the appropriate number of maps was located. If you are in the application and are suddenly getting announcements of “Unknown” addresses and intersections or no POIs are showing up, chances are that the map folder needs to be pointed to the proper map files.

Note: You cannot have a folder with POIs only. You must put at least one map in that folder. It could be a small map, for example, Guam or Rhode Island. This might apply when traveling on the water or in a region without maps like South America or Africa.

Note:  If the maps or POIs are in a sub-folder of the folder you have selected, it will not work.  Instead, select that sub-folder as the Map/POI Folder.  Prior to GPS version 3.5, the Maps and POI folders could be in separate folders.  

7.6	Heading Mode, L for Left/Right or C for Clock mode.
There are two orientation methods for hearing the waypoint heading information, clock face and left/right.  The default is Left/right.  
In Left/Right mode, directional information is expressed in terms of left or right, and front or back.  For example, the "Golden Gate Bridge is ahead and left, 1.3 miles." 

In clock face mode, think of yourself with a clock surrounding you, where straight ahead is 12 o’clock, directly behind you is 6 o’clock and your right and left are 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock respectively.  When you are heading in the correct direction BrailleNote GPS tells you that your waypoint is at 12 o’clock or directly ahead. It will also add a compass heading after the clock heading which tells you if the waypoint is North, South, East, or West.  
This is given after the clock face or right/left position announcements. For example,
 “Golden Gate Bridge at 10 o’clock, South.”
To switch back and forth between heading modes, go into the GPS Options Menu, press H for Heading Modes, then C for clock face or L for left/right.  



7.7	Street Names.

In this option, you can choose between Long or Short forms of street names. If a highway has both a name and a number, you can hear both by 
selecting Long Names. For example: Long form is El Camino Real, CA-82, while the short form is just:  El Camino Real.  To change the setting, 
choose this option from the Options Menu and press S for Short or L for Long.  Short Names is the default.  For UK and Australian users, or US 
users using maps from other countries, you may find the Long Street Name option preferable.  Alternatively, use the SPACE with C command to hear all information about a location including the multiple street names.



7.8	Units.

This option allows you to change the units from feet (Imperial) to meters (Metric) or vice versa.
When you select this option, GPS prompts:  “To set units press I for Imperial or M for Metric” 
After you select your unit preference, your choice is confirmed and you are returned to the GPS Options Menu.  The default unit for the US version is Imperial.



7.9	Sounds.

This refers to the sounds used in the program to indicate GPS accuracy or waypoint proximity.  Use this menu to hear the sounds used to signal 
different warnings, or to turn all the sounds on and off.
When you select Sounds from the GPS Options Menu, GPS prompts: 

“Sounds Menu”

Every time you press ENTER you will hear the sound for the selected item.

The Sounds Menu items are listed below:

Turn on or off all sounds. – This will enable or disable all alert sounds from being played.  The default is On (sounds are played).

Play lost GPS fix sound. - This sound means that you have dropped to fewer than three satellites while you are using the GPS, and the GPS reading is no longer valid. This sound effect is played each time you have a valid position fix and then lose it. 

Play Poor quality GPS fix sound. - This clicking sound means that you are still being tracked, but the accuracy is poor. The sound effect is played every 10 seconds when your GPS quality is poor.

Play no GPS fix sound. - This sound means that you have dropped to less than 3 satellites while trying to acquire satellites, and therefore cannot have a position fix.   

Play background operation sound when the BrailleNote is busy. - This is a swishing sound every 3 seconds, mimicked by a counter on the Braille display, that tells you the BrailleNote is processing and you cannot interupt it. 

Play Destination arrival alert sound. - This is a WAV file of a human voice saying, “arrived near destination.”

Play Virtual position arrival alert sound. - This is a WAV file with a voice saying  “Arrived near Virtual position.” 

Play turning-point sound in route following. - This is a double beep that triggers at a turning point in a route to indicate it is time to take the next available turn.

Play sound when user is heading in the wrong direction at the beginning of a route. – This is a string of 4 beeps to draw the user’s attention to the possibility that he or she is starting the route in the wrong direction.

Play waypoint arrival sound when in turns only mode. – this set of beeps, that sound like a video game,  occurs when passing each route waypoint intersection.  To hear the name of the waypoint you can press K. Otherwise, you just hear the sound each time you pass a waypoint, particularly important in a vehicle.

Play continue straight sound when you successfully make a turn in your route. – This is a WAV voice that says, “Continue straight.

Play off-route warning sound when you have wandered off your route. – This is a WAV voice that says, “Warning, off-route.”  

Play off-route recalculating pedestrian route sound. – This is a WAV voice that says, “warning off-route, recalculating pedestrian.”

Play off-route recalculating vehicle route sound. – This is a WAV voice that says, “Warning off-route, recalculating vehicle.” 
 


7.10	 Arrival Distance.

The Arrival Distance option allows you to set the distance from your waypoints at which they are announced.  In other words, when you are within X feet, or meters, of your waypoint, BrailleNote GPS automatically announces that you are approaching that waypoint.  The default is 50 feet (16 meters) in an automatically created route and half that distance, or 25 feet (8 meters), for manually created routes. The arrival distance automatically increases if you increase your speed in the following intervals:

•	5-15 MPH equals 2 times arrival distance, 100 feet.
•	15-40 MPH equals 5 times arrival distance, 250 feet.
•	40 MPH and faster equals 10 times arrival distance, 500 feet.

If you switch between meters and feet, the Arrival Distance may shift a digit or two to round off the setting.

When you select this option, GPS prompts:  “Arrival Distance.  Press Enter for number” where number is the number that is currently set as your arrival distance.  To change the distance, type the new distance as a number value e.g. 60 feet as 60 or 20 meters as 20, and press ENTER. The arrival setting also affects waypoint and turning point announcements within routes. 

If you don’t feel alerts are triggering soon enough, increase the Arrival Distance. If you feel they are prematurely announced, reduce the Arrival Distance.  Note:  If you are within 12 feet, or 4 meters, of your waypoint, BrailleNote GPS announces that you are “near” your waypoint without a heading or distance.


7.11	Multiple Commands
Under the Multiple Commands option you can change the repeat interval, length of time between the items selected as multiple announcements.  The repeat announcements you hear are as a result of pressing M with one of several command letters, as explained in Section 12.2, Multiple Repeat Key.  The default interval is 12 seconds, and you can change it in this option by typing the number of seconds in numeric form e.g. 15 for 15 seconds or, enter 0, this activates Stationary mode. The multiple command items you pick will then only trigger when you are stationary and you will hear them just once. 
For example, if you have a route loaded, you may wish to turn on the next turn announcement with M then T as well as the destination announcement with M then D. 

When you come to an intersection and stop moving, the announcements you have selected will automatically trigger. If you need to immediately hear the announcement again, use the L key for Last announcement. If you need to hear the Stationary items and they have already triggered or you are moving, press BACKSPACE with Dot 1.

Note, the items will trigger in a set order, not the order in which you turn them on. 
The status as to which items are turned on and off is saved when you leave the GPS application. When you return to the program, the multiple repeat or stationary items will continue right where you left off.
Remember that multiple repeat is disabled in GPS mode when you do not have a fix and it will not repeat in Virtual mode.



7.12	GPS Receiver Type.

In this option you can set the type of GPS receiver you are using.
The options are B for Bluetooth, F for Compact Flash, G for Serial GPS, M for Serial Magellan.  The default is Serial GPS for the BrailleNote/VoiceNote Classic and Bluetooth for the BrailleNote PK and mPower. Magellan receivers reset their direction of travel to North when you stop moving and other receivers do not. We have compensated for this and hence have the different settings. 
GPS receivers that use the NMEA communication protocol should work. You may have to enable the NMEA option on the receiver to establish serial communication. We do not support receivers we do not sell but most should work including cell phones with built in GPS.


7.13	Off-Route Recalculation. 
Press A for Automatic route recalculation or M for Manual.  If you choose Automatic, routes can now automatically be recalculated when you stray off-route.  See section 9.4.2 for more details about Off-Route Recalculation.

The Classic BrailleNote will default to recalculation off and the mPower and PK will have it turned on. Automatic recalculation on the Classic will be problematic for long routes but is fine for short routes of a mile or two.

7.14	Braille Display Delay.

Enter the number of seconds you want messages to stay on the Braille display, the default is 1 second.
For example, in multiple repeat mode with two or more items turned on, the second piece of information will quickly replace the first. To ensure that you can read the information on the Braille display, you might want to increase the delay from the default 1 second to 4 or 5 seconds depending upon your Braille reading speed and whether or not you also use speech. This delay factor impacts other timers like the 12-second Look-Around timer. If The Display delay is set to 5 seconds, Look-Around will occur every 17 seconds.
If you have multiple repeat turned on, you may wish to increase the Braille display delay to 4 or 5 seconds so you have time to read the first multiple announcement before it is displaced by the next message. It will take some experimentation in different situations to find the best setting. Be aware that this delay adds time to other timers. For example, if you set the display delay to 5 seconds, the 12-second Look-Around timer will increase to 17 seconds.


7.15	SPACEBAR Repeat Last Command.
The Space Bar will reissue a command.  For example, if the last command key that you pressed was the X command to find out your nearest intersection, you can press SPACEBAR to have that command repeated.   This feature defaults to enabled, but you can turn it off here in the GPS Options Menu.




8	Setting a Destination.

Once you enter the GPS application, one of the first things to learn is how to set and to announce a destination. Before you can create an automatic route, you must have a starting position and a destination. Setting a starting position is explained in Section 8.1.  

There are four ways to set a destination:

1)	by address,

2)	by point of interest,

3)	by Virtual Explore position, or,

4)	by latitude and longitude. 

Address uses map information to pinpoint a location based on city, street and number.  GPS location information is used to locate the destination using latitude and longitude bearings.  A Point of Interest destination 
however comes from the point of interest information, either commercial or user-defined.  This variety of options for setting a destination means it is almost always possible to pinpoint an address, regardless of the information you have with which to work.
An automatic route is created, from the beginning point of your current position to the end point of your specified destination.  However once a 
route is saved, the GPS software simply thinks of the route as having two ends, and will set one or other as the "destination" depending on where 
you are when you open it.  In other words, you need a destination to create the route, but after that, the destination will depend on which direction you choose to follow the route.

To set a POI or Explore position as a destination, highlight that item and then press SPACE with D.   



8.1	Selecting an address and setting it as a destination, POI or Virtual position.

As well as selecting an address to set as a destination, you can also make it a POI, or a virtual position.  The following procedure shows how to specify an address.  

1)	From anywhere in the GPS software (other than when editing a route), press SPACE with S.  

2)	You are presented in turn with fields for State, City, Street Name and Address number.  For the State field, enter the first two or three letters of the state, not the two letter abbreviation.  For an entire list of states loaded, press ENTER at the state field.  To review the Help messages for these fields, press SPACE with H.

For the State and City fields, you have the option of an exact match, accepting the default from your last entry, entering a partial match, or getting an entire list.  The Street field does not remember the last street name entered. If the address number is not found during an Address search, a list of cross streets is presented. An alternate street number is presented, which you can select by pressing Escape.  Note, if you do not enter a street address, a cross street list can then be presented.
The cross street list in the Address matching mode is not completely in  order. You will find that sections of streets are in order but not the entire cross-street list. The purpose of this list is so that the user has a choice of potential cross streets if an address number is not available. If one needs to see the exact layout of cross streets, the Virtual Explore mode can provide this.  Try to get the zip code for an address as this will help you pick the correct street name in a list of similar names.

3)	Having successfully selected the address, you are then prompted to set the address as either a destination, POI or virtual position.  Press D for destination, P for POI, or V for virtual position.  If you set the address to the Virtual position, make sure you are in Virtual mode before trying to explore the position or using SPACE with D to set it also as your destination. If you are in GPS mode, you can find out how far away the Virtual position is by pressing I.

4)	If you pressed D to set the address as the destination, the BrailleNote will announce:  "Destination set to location entered".  You can then create an automatic route as described in Section 9.3. 



A few pointers to increase the possibility of an address match. 

*	If you are uncertain as to the spelling of a street name, enter just the first few letters and ENTER and then press SPACE or BACKSPACE to scroll through the list until you find a likely match. Then press ENTER to accept.

*	If you are not sure if a street is a lane or a court, just enter the name and you are presented with multiple options if there are any.  If you know for sure how the suffix is written, you can type it in for an exact match. However if the street name is written as Maple Ln, then you must type it in that way rather than as Maple Lane.

*	If you are searching for West 8th Street, it must be entered as, “8th st, W” there must be a letter sign before the W on the BT keyboard or it would be back translated as “will.” If you are not 100 percent sure of the proper syntax, just type in “8” or “8th” and you will be given a list of streets with that basic name. Then you can choose the one you want and press enter. If there are multiple streets of the same name in the same city, like East and West 59th Street in New York City and Brooklyn, a zip code will appear to help distinguish each item. Try to get the zip code before attempting to set an address.

*	Some cities must be retrieved in a round about fashion. If your city is not found, consider a couple “work-arounds”.  Try putting in the county name.  For example, Bedford Massachusetts might require the city field to be filled in with Middlesex County instead.  Try a nearby city or district. We found the small town of Volcano California (population 86) by entering Sutter (a nearby city);  then picking Sutter-Plymouth and Sutter as the street name. Knowing the zip code is 95689, we could pick the correct street from the 5 offered. Most cities aren’t this tricky but it is good to know that even the smallest towns are probably in the map database it may just take a little ingenuity to bring them up.  You can also press Enter without any text in the State, City or Street fields to produce a list of all matches or enter the first couple letters to narrow the search.  Note: If you are in a city like Volcano and press C to hear the City name, the township or county will be announced if the exact city name is not in the database.  This will be helpful for faster address matches in the future. 

*	Many cities are also available as Points of Interest.  If you are unable to find a city in the address mode, try finding it as a POI. 



You can use the following commands to review lists of addresses more easily:

Go to the top of the list; 	SPACE with dots 1-2-3.

Go to the end of the list;	SPACE with dots 4-5-6.

Move forward through the list one item at a time;	SPACE or SPACE with dot 4

Move backward through the list one item at a time;	BACKSPACE, or  SPACE with dot 1.

Jump backward 10 items; 	SPACE with dots 2-3.

Jump forward 10 items;	SPACE with dots 5-6.






8.2	Setting Latitude and Longitude (Lat/Lon) positions.

Setting positions by latitude and longitude means that any point in the world can be given a name and saved in your personal database of points. 
You can find out about your current GPS position relative to any other point in the world.  Finding latitude /longitude positions on the Internet is fairly easy to do – using a search engine like Google.com, type in the name of the location and either 'latitude' or 'longitude' and you should get the information in the first two or three hits. 
 Other possible web sites where latitude/longitude information might be available are 
http://www.geocode.com or http://www.wayhoo.com.   Let’s say for example you were going to take a trip to the Galapagos Islands and wanted to know which Central American city was closest to fly into, San Jose Costa Rica or Guayaquil Ecuador. Use Google on the Internet to find the lat/lon for these three locations. Then, set your current position to the Galapagos and set the other two cities as a destination or point of interest. 
If this sounds like your kind of fun, play the worldwide GPS treasure hunt game by joining http://www.geocaching.com.  

To hear the latitude and longitude in degrees, minutes, seconds for your current GPS position, Press Y.
 
To set a virtual position by latitude and longitude, do the following: 

1)	Press SPACE with Y and you will hear 
“Enter latitude degrees.”

2)	Enter the two digits for the degrees, for example, 37

3)	Repeat this for the rest of the prompts, per the example coordinates:

“Enter latitude minutes.” 46

“Enter latitude seconds.” 30.7

“Press N for North or S for South”. N

“Enter longitude degrees.” 122

“Enter longitude minutes.” 25

“Enter longitude seconds.” 5.15

“Press W for West or E for East.” W

“Enter the description for this location.” Type a descriptive name.  These example lat/lon coordinates belong to the city of San 
Francisco, CA.



4)	Finally, the last prompt says:  “Define as, Destination, P O I, or Virtual?”  Type V for Virtual. 

5)	You can now explore points near this virtual lat/lon for example by pressing F. Switch back to your GPS position by pressing V.

Note: Do not enter a minus sign before any of the lat/lon values as this is determined when choosing S for South or W for West.

There are three possible ways to input lat/lon information.  The first is outlined above in the example, this way is called Degrees, Minutes, 
Decimal Seconds.  

The second way to input a lat/lon is called the Degrees, Decimal Minutes, you will not be prompted to enter seconds.  To search a 
Degrees, Decimal Minutes latitude and longitude, do the following: 

1)	Press SPACE with Y and you will hear 
   “Enter latitude degrees.”

2)	Enter the two digits for the degrees, for example, 37

3)	Repeat this for the rest of the prompts, per the example coordinates:

      “Enter latitude minutes.” 46.512

   “Press N for North or S for South”. N

      “Enter longitude degrees.” 122

“Enter longitude minutes.” 25.086

   “Press W for West or E for East.” W

      “Enter the description for this location.” Type a descriptive name.  These example lat/lon coordinates belong to the city of San Francisco, CA.



4)	Finally, the last prompt says:  “Define as, Destination, P O I, or Virtual?”  Type V for Virtual. 

Finally, there is the Decimal Degrees. Simply, enter a complete string for the lat or lon in the Degrees field if you have the full decimal value 
of the string, in which case you won't be prompted for the minutes or seconds.  For example:

“Enter latitude degrees.”  37.7751997

“Enter N for North or S for South” N

“Enter longitude degrees.” 122.4180997

“Enter W for West or E for East” W

“Define as, Destination, P O I, or Virtual?”  Type V for Virtual. 







9	Recording and following Routes.

This section looks at all aspects of creating automatic routes.


9.1	About Routes and Waypoints.

The quality of map data varies from town to town and it will continue to be improved by the map supplier over time. Frequently, the street will match exactly with where you are walking or driving. Other times, you may find that the street is 25 or even 50 feet off (8 to 16 meters) from where you are physically walking. This offset has to do with the geocoded position of the street map and the GPS inaccuracy. Our GPS software tries to take 
these factors into account when announcing information and creating routes. 
 
There is no guarantee that the automatic route is completely accurate or safe to travel. However, you should find that the automatic creation of 
routes is very efficient and useful most of the time, and automatic routes can be customized with the addition or deletion of waypoints.
Routes created automatically by the BrailleNote provide a wealth of information and a variety of options. Numerous factors go into the software calculation of a recommended route and these routes may not always be desirable. You therefore have the option to edit and fine-tune these routes manually.

If you veer off your automatically created route, the BrailleNote PK or mPower will automatically recalculate your route if you have that function enabled.  To manually recalculate a route press BACKSPACE  with  Dot 3. 



9.2	Street classifications.

In addition to map quality factors, the route calculation software must deal with road classification and a multitude of street options. Roads are classified such as Limited Access, and Arterial.  They have attributes assigned to them such as one way, or pedestrian only. Limited Access means that only vehicles can access the road. This classification can change along the same road such as Highway 29. It is a major highway approaching Napa California but becomes accessible by pedestrians going through small towns where it switches from Limited Access to Arterial. 
The BrailleNote GPS software takes these classifications into account when calculating routes. 




Notes:

*	In automatic route calculation, waypoints are placed at street intersections. Additional points can be inserted manually.

*	Once you start route creation, you cannot cancel other than by pressing the Reset button.

*	Routes may take many seconds or even minutes to create depending upon the length. The storage slot and medium being used may also 
impact the speed of the route creation. For longer routes you will be asked to confirm that you want to create your route before the program will continue.  If you know you have a long route to calculate, say 300 miles, it is wise to do the route creation before starting the trip. Calculation takes roughly 6 seconds per mile on the BrailleNote Classic, which equals 2 swish sounds per mile.  It is much faster on the BrailleNote PK and mPower.

*	When a route first opens, give it several seconds to synchronize with your present GPS position.

*	If you are calculating a route while moving in a vehicle, your direction of travel is taken into account. If it takes a minute to 
calculate a 10 mile route, you may be a mile or more past the first waypoint by the time the route has finished being calculated. The software will automatically skip to the waypoint nearest your GPS position when the defaults are set. You will have more success being able to follow vehicular routes if you finish calculating the route before moving. If you don’t like the route created for you or if you are at a much different place by the time it finishes calculating, pull 
over and recalculate by pressing BACKSPACE with Dot 3. 





9.2.1	Naming a Route.

Each route must have a unique, meaningful name so that it can be stored and later retrieved by specifying its name.  You can use whatever name you like, with up to 250 characters, including spaces, in computer Braille.
If you have several routes with a similar theme, you may find it helpful to put the common part of the name first.  For example, you might have:
	
	"Bus Route A"
	
	"Bus Route B"

and so on.  These route names would be grouped together alphabetically for easy location.
Routes can be grouped into folders to make them easier to find.  As an example, the routes just mentioned might all be put into a folder called 
“Bus Routes”.  The rules for naming a folder are the same as for naming a route.
Some characters are reserved and you may not use them in a file name.  
They are: \ /: ” < > | * and ? .



9.3	How to Create an Automatic Route.

In order to create an automatic route, you need a beginning and an ending point and you must have the street maps loaded for the area where you 
want the route created.

Follow these steps:

1)	Set a destination by address, POI or lat/lon as described in Section 8.

2)	Decide if you wish the starting point to be from your current GPS position i.e. where you are currently located, or from a Virtual position.  

More information on Virtual positions and Virtual Mode can be found in Section 13.  Your current GPS position can either be the GPS position you are tracking or the last GPS position tracked if you have entered a building and cannot pick up satellites.

3)	Once you have decided upon your starting position and have set a destination, Press R for Route commands, and then V for Vehicular or P for a Pedestrian route.





9.4	Route Commands.

This section outlines the types of commands available that effect the way a route is announced, presented, or calculated.  Many are grouped into a list of options, others have independent commands.  The options are discussed first below, and then the independent commands.



9.4.1	Route Option Commands.

There is a range of commands available simply by pressing R for the Route Options, then the initial letter.  These commands all impact the way in which a route is relayed to the user, and are available anywhere within the GPS program other than while editing a route.  The route parameters you set using these commands will be saved along with the route, even after 
exiting the GPS program.

These commands are:

R then I;	Information, 

R then P;	Pedestrian,

R then V;	Vehicular

R then A;	Auto to Manual toggle,

R then M;	Turns only to Details toggle,  

R then T; 	Total distance announcement, 

R then F;	Follow sequential route,

R then C;	Close route, 

R then S;	Save route, 

R then O;	Open/Create Route,

R then R;	Reverse Direction of Route,

R then B; 	Distance from Route Beginning to current position 

R then E; 	Distance from GPS Position to end of route and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) 

R then K;	Record POI as WP 

R then N;	Waypoint Numbering On/Off 



R then I ;	Route information:  Press this to hear the current settings for whether the route is reversed, if the route needs saving, if Auto Increment is on or off or if Follow Sequential Route is on. 
Each of these settings are detailed later in this section.

R then P; Pedestrian Route: Use this setting when automatically creating a route suitable for walking.  The automatic calculations disallow vehicle only roads such as Limited Access (vehicle-only) highways, and allows for two way travel on a one way street. If you receive an error message that a route cannot be calculated, it could be because the map data has a street classified as limited access when in fact it may allow pedestrian access in an area where you wish to travel.You can try calculating a vehicle route to confirm that this is the problem. As we indicate with the caution notes at the beginning of this manual, you should realize that the data and route calculation can be incorrect and unsafe and you should always use alternate information to ensure safe travel.

R then V; Vehicle Route:  Use this setting for automatically creating a route suitable for a car, van or other vehicle.  The calculation includes all road types, and respects one-way streets and highway ramps.  If a route cannot be calculated, the data may be classified incorrectly and you can try calculating a pedestrian route to see if this is the problem. Be aware that a pedestrian route allows going the wrong way on a one-way street.


R then A; Waypoint Announcement Mode: this command toggles between Auto Increment and Manual Increment announcement modes. In manual increment mode, you will be advised that you are approaching the Current Waypoint at 1.5 times the arrival distance, default 75 feet, and then you will be advised that you have arrived near the Current Waypoint when you are within 40% of the arrival distance, default 20 feet..  After you have reached your waypoint, you have to press W to advance to the Next Waypoint. This gives you time to consider the current announcement before moving on to the next waypoint instructions.  Make sure you have R then M set to Detailed Waypoint mode (see following paragraph). In Auto Increment Waypoint mode, you hear that you are approaching the current waypoint, that you arrived at that point and then you hear information about the next waypoint. That “next” waypoint is then automatically set as your new current waypoint. To find out whether you are in Auto Increment or Manual mode, press R then I.

R then M; Mode Toggle:  This command toggles between two different ways of following a route – by Turns Only, or by Detailed Waypoints.  You 
can toggle between them while in a route without having to recalculate the route. A more complete description of each mode follows:  
Following in Turns-Only mode:  In this mode, you will only hear turns or bends in the route announced, in the form of the distance and direction of the turning point plus the name of the turning street and the direction it travels. For example, "1 mile to Turning Point 10, proceed right on Market heading West.” If you don’t touch any keys, you will hear a sound each time you pass an interim waypoint and then an announcement when you approach the turn. A unique double-beep will draw your attention when you are near each turning point. It is common for highways to change names in the map database when passing through towns. This may cause a Turning Point to appear when there is one of these name changes. In practice, you probably aren’t turning, just making a transition. If you see a 12 o’clock turn, this is probably what is happening. Press SPACE with T to go to the next turn and then the W key to see what waypoints are beyond the turn if it isn’t obvious from the SPACE with T command by itself. Press SPACE with N to return to the waypoint nearest your GPS position.  In this mode be sure that your R then A is set to Auto Increment waypoint mode.

Following in Detailed Waypoint mode: In this mode, you hear each waypoint intersection announced instead of the sound indicator you heard in Turns mode. Warning announcements will occur when you are approaching a point, when you arrive at a point and if you need to turn at a point. Again, if you are in automatic increment mode (R then A toggle) the current waypoint and next waypoint information will be spoken. If the Waypoint Announcement is set to Manual, you will be advised that you are approaching the Current Waypoint at 1.5 times the arrival distance, default 75 feet, and then you will be advised that you have arrived near the Current Waypoint when you are within 40% of the arrival distance, default 20 feet. At this point you need to press W to advance to the next Waypoint. 

R then T; Total Route Distance: This command announces the total accumulated distance of the route, not as a straight line but as traveling 
distance.  

R then B; Beginning to current position:  This command announces the total distance between your current location and the beginning of the route.  The distance announced is the approximate distance in the route, not "as the crow flies".


R then E; From the GPS position to the end of the route and ETA:  This command announces the total distance between your GPS position and the end of the route plus it gives you an Estimated Time to Arrival (ETA).  The distance announced is the distance still to be traveled, not "as the crow flies".

The Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) is calculated by comparing your current speed of travel with the distance to a turn or end of route. Speed is not averaged. It is up to the user to interpret the ETA. It is recommended that you request the ETA information when you are traveling at what you believe to be the average speed for your trip. 

If you are not moving, an average speed of 2 MPH, 3.2 KM, will be used for a pedestrian route ETA. An average of 25 MPH, 40 KM, applies to vehicle routes when moving less than 10 MPH, 16 KM. Once you approach a turning point or end of route, the ETA will say less than a minute. Remember that this is a very rough estimate.

To obtain an ETA, you must have a route active. Press R followed by E to hear the ETA and distance from your GPS position to the end of the route. Press T to hear the distance to the next turning point followed by the ETA.


R then F; Follow Sequential Route: Before following a route that may wrap back around itself as in a circular route or one with hair pin turns, switch to the “Follow Sequential Route” by pressing RF. This ensures that waypoints will be announced in numeric order. No points will be skipped or triggered even if they are closer to you than the next numeric point.  This is particularly useful for manually created routes which are far more likely to meander – for example a route that goes North on the left side of the street for 3 blocks then back South on the opposite side of the same street.
  
R then O; Route Open or Create:  To select an existing route or create a new route, Press R then O. You will be asked for a file location as for any other KeySoft file, and can open an existing route, or enter a new filename to create a new one.  When opening an existing route, the software will make its best guess whether you want the first or the last waypoint as the 
destination based on your location. If you are in the middle of the route when it opens, the furthest end point will be chosen as your destination.
Please Note: If you go to create or open a new route while already in a newly created route, you will be prompted as to whether you want to save 
the current route before changing.  Press Y to save, N to close without saving.

R then R; Reverse Route: To Reverse the route so that the opposite end point becomes the destination in the waypoint sequence, press R then R. If you reverse a vehicular route, be aware that you may not be able to travel the exact reverse route if there are one-way streets or highway ramps involved in the route. In this situation, it would be best to recalculate the 
route to your new destination.  

R then S; Saving a Route: You can save a route any time by pressing R then S.  

R then C; Close Route: To close the route you are in, simply press R then C.  If you haven't saved the route, you will be prompted to do so at this 
point –press Y to save or N to close without saving. If you decide at the last second that you want to keep the route open after all, press Space with Z to cancel closing.

R the N; Waypoint Numbering On/Off:  It defaults On. The Turning Points will still be announced, just not the interim waypoints. 
Beginners may wish to keep Waypoint numbering on to be very clear about his or her position in a route. Since automatic waypoint triggering and skipping of waypoints can quickly change the waypoint number and position, the numbering helps the user know the exact waypoint number. Once the user is more experienced, the waypoint numbers aren’t as important and they are just extra information on the Braille display and it makes sense to switch them off. Note that the Braille display will use the abbreviation WP to represent Waypoint. 





9.4.2	Off-Route Recalculation. 
To change this setting go to the GPS Options menu by pressing O from within the program or from the GPS menu and select the menu item “Off-Route Recalculation”.  Press A for Automatic or M for Manual.  If you choose Automatic, routes can now automatically be recalculated when you stray off-route.  The automatic rerouting will happen when you are around 150 feet, 45 meters, off-route under 15 MPH, 24 KM and approximately 500 feet, 150 meters, when traveling more than 15 MPH, 24 KM. This off-route distance is relative to the distance to the current waypoint accessed with the K command. When you select Manual in the GPS Options Menu, you must use the RV or RP commands to recalculate a route.

If you load a previously created route, the first time you are off-route, you will be asked if you wish to create a manual, pedestrian or vehicle route.

The Classic BrailleNote will default to recalculation off and the mPower and PK will have it turned on. Automatic recalculation on the classic will be problematic for long routes but is fine for short routes of a mile or two.

The recalculation may not trigger if you are paralleling a route, particularly at high speeds. A new hot key to manually recalculate routes has been added, BACKSPACE with Dot 3.

After a route is recalculated once, the subsequent time you will be instructed that your target waypoint is behind you but a recalculation will not happen automatically. If you get a message saying waypoints have been skipped, the recalculate option will be enabled again. If you find routes are recalculating prematurely, switch to manual calculation in the GPS Options menu. Use the recalculate hot key when you feel it is necessary.





9.4.3	 Announcing the next Turn.

On top of any route command setting you have chosen, you can also choose to hear the next turn announced.  To do this, press T at any time when following the route.  This T command announces the distance from your current GPS location to the next turn in the form of the distance and 
direction of the turning point plus the name of the turning street and the direction it travels. For example, "1 mile to Turning Point 10, proceed right on Market heading West.”  It is an announcement only and does not change the current waypoint. The T command is followed by the ETA.



9.4.4	Changing the Next Waypoint.

There are two ways in which you can change the current waypoint.  These are aside from being in Manual mode where you are required to by default, 
and will function in any route no matter what the route parameters are. 

Both are described below:

a)	The first is to make the next turn in the route the current waypoint by pressing SPACE with T.  So, regardless of how many waypoints may be 
between your current position and the next turn, by pressing the command SPACE with T, the program will then skip over them all and start announcing the next turn as the current waypoint.   

b)	The second is to manually skip to the next waypoint by pressing W, making it the current waypoint.  You can do this as many times as you like, and each time the next sequential waypoint in the route will become the current waypoint.  In GPS mode, the K command will tell you where that waypoint is relative to your GPS position.  In Virtual mode, the K command will tell you where that waypoint is relative to the last waypoint announced.  Note: to manually skip to the next Waypoint press W and to the previous waypoint press SPACE with W



9.4.5	Destination Side of the Street Announcement.

When you have a route loaded and you have passed the last turn, pressing the D key announces the side of the street the destination is on.  For example, “895 feet to Starbucks, Destination Left Side.”

Your destination must have a street number for this feature to function.  The three examples of a destination with a complete address are:

1.	Set your destination using the SPACE with S command.  You must enter an address number, for example, 123 Main Street.
2.	Choose a commercial POI that has an address.  To check whether or not a commercial POI has an address, press SPACE with P, and you will hear the address if there is one.
3.	Choose a User POI that has an address.  You must record your User POIs in the same way that commercial POIs are listed for this to work, meaning you need to input “User POI name, User POI address”.  For example, you are recording your house as a User POI, enter “My house, 123 Main Street.”  The punctuation in the User POI must be the same as the commercial POI address format.

Once the program detects the address of your destination, its status as an odd or even address number is then compared with the SPACE  with C command details to determine the side of the street. The address data is not 100% accurate so this side of street indication could be incorrect.





9.5	Inserting Waypoints in Automatic Routes.
Once you have had the BrailleNote GPS create an automatic route with a sequence of waypoints at intersections, you can insert manual waypoints if 
you wish. 
First, create a route per the instructions in the Automatic Route section by setting a destination and selecting R then V, or R then P. Press R then S to save that route and give it a name. Now, walk your way virtually through the route with the W or SPACE with W commands. When you find the waypoint you wish to insert the manual waypoint in front of, press SPACE with K and type the name and description (e.g. 1st Street, 4- way intersection). You must of course be at the location of the waypoint you wish to insert because the manual waypoint is based upon your GPS position. Save waypoint changes from time to time just as you would when creating a document to ensure that data is not lost due to unforeseen circumstances.  To save your route and waypoint changes made, press R then S. Note: You must be tracking a GPS position before you are allowed to create a Waypoint.  If you are not tracking and wish to create a route, switch to Virtual mode and insert manual Waypoints into the route. It is not required that you save an Automatic Route before inserting manual points but it can’t hurt in case you change your mind and wish to revert to the original route. 





9.6	Tips on following a vehicular route.

When traveling on a freeway or highway, your next turn might be announced as “0.50 miles to waypoint 12, proceed right on Ramp, connecting to Main Street.”  The 
most effective way to review a vehicular route as you are traveling is to use the SPACE with T to move you up to that turn and the W to become 
acquainted with your next significant turning point. You may have to press W a couple times before you move past the exit ramp to the nearest 
intersection. The name of the intersection is your major clue as to the exit name from a highway. Ramps may have a couple waypoints because they curve around. The intersection at the end of the ramp isn’t always the name of the exit.  There may also be a name for the exit in the POI database. 

Once you get the next turning point sorted out, set your current waypoint back to your current GPS or Virtual position by pressing SPACE with N. 
Once you approach the turning point, you will be alerted and you can tell the driver to take the next exit. Normally you would want Turns-Only mode turned on so you just hear beeps at individual waypoints. You can always hear the name of the current waypoint by pressing K. If you are on a highway, these individual waypoints may not be legal exits or entrances from the highway.






9.7	Trigger distances.

The software attempts to automatically trigger announcements based upon your proximity to waypoints, turns, and the number of lanes and speed of movement. These are complex formulas but here are some approximate trigger distances based on the default Arrival distance of 50 feet (16 
meters). Keep in mind that the distance to an intersection is to the center of the intersection. Note that when traveling at higher speeds, there is a noticeable lag, the car may travel 500 feet just in the time it takes to speak the announcement. Also, direction-of-travel and GPS position are based on samples once a second so a 5 second sample might occupy 400 feet (121 meters) of travel on a highway.

If the GPS software determines that you are progressing through your waypoints but you have not come close enough to trigger them, you will 
hear that X number of points have been skipped unless Force Sequential mode is turned on. This helps compensate for map data that may not 
exactly match the street you are on. You can always back up through the waypoint list if you want to see what was skipped or you can press RF to force the route to be followed sequentially. 
   
   For example:

Pedestrian, Approaching turning waypoint, 300 feet

Pedestrian, Turn now, 100 feet

Pedestrian, Arrive voice (Manual Detailed Waypoints), 50 feet

Vehicle (60 miles per hour), Approaching Waypoint, 1 mile

Vehicle (60 miles per hour), Turn now double beep, 1000 feet





9.8	Automatic Heading and Distance Announcements.

Once a route is loaded, you can hear an automatic heading and distance announcement to the Current Waypoint, Next Turn or Destination.  This automatic message announcement contains three pieces of information described next. The interval in seconds for repeating this announcement is user definable from the GPS Options menu, as described in Section 7.7. 

1)	The orientation reading.  There are two orientation methods for obtaining the waypoint heading information, clock face and right/left.  The default is “Left/Right mode”.  To switch back and forth to the clock face announcements, go to the GPS Options Menu, Heading selection.  A detailed description of these modes is also available in Section 7.7.

2)	The distance reading.  The key here is to hear the distance to your next waypoint or destination decreasing.  If the distance is 
consistently getting smaller, you are headed in the correct direction.  
If the distance is increasing, you are headed the wrong way.  If there is one essential piece of information to be aware of when using GPS 
for navigation, this is it!

3)	The compass heading.  In the clock face mode, you get a compass announcement, which tells you if the waypoint is North, South, East, or West.  This is given after the clock face or right/left position announcements. 
For example, “at 10 o’clock, South.”






 
10	Creating a Route without maps.

While it is possible to create a route using maps, there will be times when you are somewhere where maps are of no use – perhaps camping, or sailing as in our earlier example. With the BrailleNote GPS, you can create a custom route simply by walking or riding along it, and creating waypoints as you go.  You can then save this route and reuse it as often as you need, and even swap it with other BrailleNote GPS users.  



10.1	How to Create a manual Route.

1)	Once in the GPS application, press R for Routes and O for Open/Create.  KeySoft prompts:  
“Folder name? X”, 
where X is the last folder opened.  The first time you use GPS it will offer the General 
folder.  You may wish to select the GPS folder on your Flash disk. 
 
Select a folder in the usual way.

2)	KeySoft then prompts:  "Route name?  Computer Braille is required.” The last route or document used will be presented.

3)	Type in a unique, meaningful route name and press ENTER.  The program says:  “Document does not exist.  Create a new document?  
Press ‘Y’ to create the new route. ”  

4)	Press Y as directed.  The program then says “Recording route, RouteName.” where RouteName is the name you have just created. 

5)	When the software announces: “GPS Detected” you can begin to create the route.






10.2	Entering Manual Waypoints.

When creating a route in this manner, you must be tracking satellites and be on the spot you wish to use as a waypoint when creating the waypoint. 
When you want to record a waypoint, follow these steps:

1)	Press SPACE with K. KeySoft prompts:
“Waypoint name.  Press ENTER for Waypoint 1”

2)	You can type in a more specific name, or you can accept the default name, Waypoint 1.  Even if you give the waypoint a name, its number 
in the sequence will be maintained.  Press ENTER.

3)	Enter in Waypoint direction, S or Dot 2 for Straight, R or Dot 1 for Right, and L or Dot 3 for Left.

4)	Next, you will be prompted for a Waypoint description.  Some examples of this would be “4-way intersection” or “slight curve in path”.  
Note:  Do not enter the turn direction here (i.e. “right turn”) as the direction will switch when using Reverse Route. 
Save the waypoint by pressing ENTER.  The BrailleNote then says: 

“Waypoint 1, Direction, Description, added.”

5)	Continue adding waypoints until you have reached your destination.

6)	To exit and save the route, press SPACE with E, or to save the route but keep it open, press R and then S.






10.3	Editing Waypoints.

Waypoints in any saved route can be copied, renamed or deleted.   To execute any of these edits, first open the route and then press E to go into Edit mode.  Move through the waypoint list by pressing SPACE with dot 4 to go forward or SPACE with dot 1 to go back, until you find the one you wish to edit.  Details of each type of edit are listed below:

To delete a waypoint, scroll to the desired item and press E to Erase.

To copy a waypoint, locate the waypoint as above, then press C. Then, locate the waypoint before which you want to paste the copied waypoint. 
Paste the copied waypoint into its new location by pressing V.  Finally, go back to the original waypoint number and erase it.

To rename a waypoint, locate the waypoint as above, then press R and type in the new name followed by ENTER.

To Move a Waypoint, you must first Copy it, then erase the original point. Don't erase it until you have copied into its new place.

If you have a waypoint you wish to add to your User POI file, simply press P when that waypoint is highlighted and it will be copied into your User POI file. If you wish to do the reverse and place a POI into your route waypoints, exit editing and press R then K when the POI you wish to record as a waypoint is highlighted. 





10.4	Tips for Setting Quality Route Waypoints.
Waypoints should be significant points in the route.  By setting a waypoint, you are figuratively dropping an electronic breadcrumb to help you remember your route.  Significant points in the route may be turns on to other streets, major landmarks, and any other distinctive environmental clue.  You do not want your waypoint to be something that can move or that may not be there when you walk the route again.
A waypoint may focus on a specific spot such as the corner of the street or the front door of your house, but in reality it is more like the area within a 10-30 foot (3-10 meter) radius.  The GPS cannot reliably pinpoint a spot more accurately than this.  It is wise to take this into consideration when using the GPS.
Waypoints should not be too close.  If the points are too close together, you may have an overlap of points.  It is recommended to set your points 100 feet (30 meters) apart although shorter distances can work.

Be descriptive and concise when naming the waypoints.  The waypoint is recorded as soon as you press SPACE with K, so you have as much time as you need to enter the name.  You can continue on your route without having to write the name immediately.
If you have time when setting the route check the GPS status before setting the waypoint by pressing G or SPACE with dot 5 to hear the GPS position quality.  You need at least 3 satellites to have a GPS position-fix, but it is best to have more when setting a waypoint.  If the receiver is not tracking, you will receive a message telling you so.
To maximize the accuracy of a waypoint recording, try to get a clear view of the skyline and pause for 10 seconds or so.






11	Points of Interest (POIs).

There are more than 12,000,000 commercial Points of Interest for the U.S. and Canada . See the Read Me document for up-to-date POI details for 
these and other countries. Unlike the User POI files discussed below, the commercial .bpi files cannot be modified. If a POI goes out of business, you cannot delete it. You can create a User POI that says it no longer exists or has a new name.

The user point of interest file is called User.POI and it is automatically created in the folder where your maps and commercial POIs are located. When you use the F Find commands, both the commercial and User POIs will be sorted. 




11.1	Finding Points of Interest.

To do a simple POI search, press F or SPACE with Dot 4 and you will hear the nearest points within 1/4 mile in order of proximity, from closest to farthest.  If you scroll through this list to the furthest POI, you are then prompted to expand the proximity search to 1, then 2, then 5, then 10 miles and so on, (1/4, 1, 2 and 5 Kilometers in Metric Mode).  If no POIs are found within a 1/4 mile radius, you will not be asked if you want to expand the search, you will have to use the SPACE with F command to do that.  Some POIs have more detailed descriptions, such as addresses and phone numbers, to hear this information announced press SPACE with P when you have the Point of Interest highlighted. 





11.1.1	Advanced POI Search

You use the advanced search feature if you want to search for a POI by name, distance, or by category using the command SPACE with F.  You 
are asked for a beginning and ending distance, then the category, and then the search string. For example, you want to find a restaurant called Burger Palace that is 10-20 miles away.  
First you would press the advanced search command, SPACE with F.  
Next, you will be prompted to enter your starting POI search distance which would be 10 in this case.  Then, enter your ending search distance, 
20, and press ENTER.  Once you have defined the distance parameters, you will be prompted for a 
category.  Type ‘restaurant’ and press ENTER.  If you do not know the exact name of the category, you can scroll through the category list or use 
the first letter of a category to hop directly to a specific item. The program remembers the last category used, but defaults to the ALL category every time you enter the GPS program.  Note: if you type the plural of a category, e.g. “restaurants”, the program will not find this category.  
Finally, you will be prompted for the search string, which refers to the name of the POI or sub-category that you want to find.  In this case that would be Burger Palace and press ENTER.  
If the POI is not found and you are asked if you wish to expand the search, the same distance increment will be repeated. Using the same example, you were searching from 10 to 20 miles, the expanded search would be from 20 to 30 miles, increasing by increments of 10. 
Searches will take longer to perform once you start getting hundreds of miles away. The swishing sound will indicate a search is in progress. If you want to look at points that are several hundred miles away, it would be best 
to set your Virtual position to that vicinity and then search for POIs relative to your Virtual position by pressing V to go to Virtual mode.
Remember that you can set a POI as a destination with SPACE with D or as your Virtual position by pressing SPACE with V. Listen to the currently 
selected POI by pressing P. Scroll through the list with SPACE with dot 4 forward or SPACE with dot 1 backward.

If you type 1 or 2 characters in the search string, the software will only find these characters at the beginning of the POI name.  However, if you type three or more characters, the software will look for a match anywhere in 
the POI name.
Note: If you do not enter a search distance, the beginning distance defaults to 0 and the ending distance defaults to 1/4 mile.  This is a fast way to use the advanced search mode to search specific categories.  







11.1.2	Point Of Interest Categories

There are 50 POI Categories which make up the Core POIs.  These new points are the equivalent of electronic yellow pages with GPS positions.  The core POIs include everything from automobile, transportation, medical, government services to schools, libraries, restaurants, accommodations, entertainment, and tourism.  These files should be placed in the Maps folder. 

For a complete list of the POI categories, go into the GPS program and press SPACE with F and a list of categories will be presented as you fill in the Advance Find fields.




11.2	Creating User Points of Interest. 

It is very helpful to create your own user points of interest. Your user point at the front door of a building is more accurate than the general address for that building. You can add envrionmental detail like recessed doorway or steep driveway. 
  
The first time you record a POI with SPACE with Dot 3, a file called User.poi is created. It will store all the POIs you create.  You can have only 
one User.poi file active at a time and it must have this name.  Therefore, if you swap user.poi files with another GPS user, it is a good idea to change the filename of your own and ensure it is backed up before sharing.
The User POIs are automatically sorted along with the commercial POIs when you use the F Find commands. Because of this, we recommend a 
naming scheme that allows you to distinguish between a commercial POI and a User POI for the same business.  For example, let’s say that you 
created a route to McDonalds. Once you arrive, you see that the front door or drive thru are a couple hundred feet away from the commercial POI 
location for McDonalds. This is normal with businesses that are not directly on a street, especially for businesses in malls that share one 
common address. Create the POI by pressing SPACE with Dot 3 and name it “McDonalds, main door.” Now you know when you see two McDonalds close together, which one is actually your user point at the building doorway.





11.2.1	How to record a POI.
There are two additional ways you can record user POIs.  You can set an address with SPACE with S or establish a Lat/Lon with SPACE with Y.  At the end of either of these options, press P  to define the position as a User POI.  For more information about addresses and Lat/Lon, refer to section 8.1 – 8.1.1.
To set your current GPS position as a POI, you must be in the GPS application and successfully tracking or in Virtual mode.  Follow these 
steps:

1)	Press SPACE with Dot 3.  GPS then prompts:  “Point of Interest name?" 

2)	Type a name and press ENTER.  When you are naming your POIs, it is helpful to have a unique, meaningful name so that you can remember 
the significance of the POI.  You can enter up to 50 characters for describing your POI.  Use a comma to separate the primary POI name (P) from the secondary POI details (SPACE with P). Use a period to cause a pause in speech clips.

3)	Save the POI by pressing ENTER.  KeySoft then says: “POI name added,” where name is the name you just created.
This POI is now saved in the User.poi file and it will be triggered next time you are in the vicinity.  In fact, it may trigger immediately after you create it if you are standing still.  








11.2.2	Editing User Points of Interest.

It is possible to edit POIs that you have created yourself.  

1)	From the GPS menu, press E for Edit User.poi.

2)	In the POI list, locate the POI you wish to edit, using the review commands listed below.

3)	Press E to Erase, R to Rename, C to Copy, V to Paste.

4)	Repeat one of these procedures for any other POIs you wish to edit.

5)	When you exit User POIs, you will be asked if you want to save changes.

You can use the following commands to review the POI list:

Go to the top of the list; 	SPACE with dots 1-2-3.

Go to the end of the list;	SPACE with dots 4-5-6.

Move backward through the list one item at a time;	SPACE with dot 1

Move forward through the list one item at a time;	SPACE with dot 4.

Jump backward 10 items; 	SPACE with dots 2-3.

Jump forward 10 items;	SPACE with dots 5-6.





11.2.3	Sharing POI files.

User.POI files can be shared between users.  Simply copy or attach the POI file from the GPS folder and send it to another user.  Only one User POI file can be active at a time as the GPS program is looking for a file called User.POI.  If you swap your user POI file with another user or visa versa, you should rename and back up any shared POI file you wish to save so as to not accidentally overwrite your User.poi file with another one.  For additional help refer to the BrailleNote user guide for instructions on transferring files.  The SenderoGroup.com download link provides more details on sharing User files. 






12	Looking Around.

You can look around to get oriented to your surroundings in three distinct Look Around modes: Automatic, Multiple Repeat, and Manual.  Look 
Around Mode allows you to get a sense of the environment around your current location.  The information can be very useful indeed in assessing what type of route you wish to create and follow, what type of heading information is going to be best suited to the environment etc. as well as being useful in its own right.

The commands for looking around will work while you are in either the GPS or Explore modes and while tracking or following a route, relative to 
your current position.  If you are not tracking, they will work relative to your last GPS position, or if in virtual mode, they will work relative to a specified virtual position.



12.1	Automatic Look-Around Mode 

Automatic Look-Around Mode searches for POIs and intersections in the vicinity and will scan for POIs every 12 seconds by default.  If no POI or intersection is found, the software looks around again 5 seconds later. Nothing is announced until it finds a POI or intersection within the trigger distance. If the same POI or intersection is announced and then found a second time, it will not be repeated. It can be set to announce nearby POIs and/or intersections, or turned off depending on user preference. If you are actively following a route, it may be less distracting to switch off the Look-Around mode so the POIs are not interfering with the Waypoints.  If you press another command at the same instant as the program is “looking around”, there may be a delayed response.  Note that the nearest point is announced but not all points within the Look-Around range.  If you want to hear all the points, press F for a proximity list within a quarter mile.  Also, Look-Around is switched off for 15 seconds if you do a POI search with F or SPACE with F, and at turns, so you have time to deal with the current information without being interrupted by a Look-Around POI.

At speeds under 5 miles per hour, the Look-Around POI distance is the Arrival distance set in the GPS Options Menu. The default is 50 feet.
At speeds from 5 to 39 miles per hour, the Look-Around POI trigger distance is 20 times the Arrival distance set in the GPS Options Menu, 1000 feet.
At speeds from 40 to 199 miles per hour, the Look-Around POI trigger distance is 100 times the Arrival distance, about one mile.
At speeds 200 miles per hour and up, the Look-Around POI trigger distance is 1000 times the Arrival distance, around 9.4 miles.
 

When you press SPACE with M for the automatic Look-Around mode, you are presented with the Look Around Mode menu.  The Look Around Mode menu contains three items:
 

1.	Turn Look Around Mode On or Off - To simply switch status, press O for On or F for Off.  Alternatively, scroll down to the prompt Turn On or Off Look-Around and toggle the status with the Enter key.

2.	Look Around Mode Settings - Press Enter on this item to make changes in the POI categories you wish to select including Commercial POIs on or off, Commercial POI Categories, Intersections On or Off and User POIs On or Off. Pressing Enter on these individual selections will toggle them On or Off.

3.	Review Current Look Around Mode settings – To review the status of the three Look Around settings.

The status of your Look Around settings is maintained when you exit the GPS program with SPACE with E or SPACE with Z.





12.2	Multiple Repeat Mode.

The Multiple Repeat key, M, followed by one of several single-letter keys repeats the respective single-letter function every X number of seconds.  
 This repeat interval defaults to 12 seconds and can be changed under the GPS Options Menu item "Multiple Commands," under O for Options.  If you enter 0 seconds for the repeat interval, you will enter into Stationary mode and the multiple items will be announced only when you are stationary.   
The multiple repeat commands are:

M then A;	Multiple Address Announcement

M then C;	Multiple City/State Announcement

M then D;	Multiple Destination announcement

M then E; 	Multiple Percentage of Route Traveled Announcement

M then G;	Multiple GPS status Announcement

M then H;	Multiple Heading Announcement

M then I;	Multiple Intersection Detail Announcement 

M then K;	Multiple Current Waypoint Announcement

M then M;	Deactivate all Multiple Repeat commands

M then P;	Multiple POI Announcement

M then S;	Multiple Speed Announcement

M then T;	Multiple Turn announcement

M then V;	Repeat distance between GPS and Virtual

M then X;	Multiple Intersection announcements

M then Y;	Multiple repeat of Lat/Lon

M then Z;	Multiple Altitude Announcement



You can activate several multiple repeat commands at the same time. For example, Press M then X for Intersection and M then D for Destination. They will both repeat one after the other, every 12 seconds by default. Press M then M to turn all repeat items off. Press the item once to turn it on and a second time to turn it off. For example, M then D turns Destination repeat on and M then D a second time turns it off. If you get confused as to what is turned on or off, just press M then M to turn all items off.





12.3	Manual Look Around Mode

Manual Look Around mode allows you to spot check your location.  You can manually enter the Look Around commands such as:

X for Announcing Intersections

A for nearest Street Address

C for City, Feature, State

Y for Latitude/Longitude

P for the last POI announced, or

F for all nearby POIs.


These options are detailed below:



12.3.1	Announcing Intersections.

The X key announces the nearest Intersection name, heading and distance.  
It usually announces the street you are traveling on first and the cross street second.  If you are moving, X announces the nearest intersection in a 90 degree arc ahead of you i.e. if ahead is 12 o'clock, between 10:30 and 1:30 o'clock.  If you are not moving, X gives you the nearest intersection, in any direction.  A unique sound differentiates X-not moving from X-moving (no sound).  You can hear the intersection announced repeatedly by pressing M then X.  Map data quality and GPS accuracy impact the preciseness of intersection announcements.  Once you are within 100 feet (30 meters) of the center of the intersection, no distances will be specified and the X key will announce that you are nearby the intersection.  Remember that the distance to the intersection refers to the center of the intersection, so you might be stopped at the intersection and hear that the intersection is 105 feet away.  If you want more details about your intersection press SPACE with X.   This command will announce intersection details like direction of travel and the compass orientation of the cross streets.  To have the detailed intersection description announced repeatedly press M then I.





12.3.2	Street Address.

Query the nearest known street address by pressing the letter A. If you are on a highway or if the address number is not known, the name only will be announced. You can also be a little way off the street itself, say in a nearby park, and hear the nearest address.  The wider the street, the more likely the address will correspond with the side of the street you are on. If you are near an intersection, you may receive the address of the cross street and not the one you are physically on. If you get 
a message saying the Address is unknown, move a bit and try again.



12.3.3	City, Feature, State.

To hear the current city, Map Feature if there is one, and state announced, Press C. If you get a message saying it is unknown, move and 
try again. There may be some small towns which do not have address level data, only street names without house numbers. If the city name is not 
found, the nearest township will be announced. If no township is found either, the county or district may be announced. If there is a body of water, college campus or other map feature in the database, this will appear after the city and before the state.  You can also have the complete details of any location announced by pressing SPACE with C.  These details include the road classification, speed limit, number of lanes, address range on each side of the road, city, borough if there is one, county, country and zip.  



12.3.4	Latitude Longitude.

To hear the current latitude and longitude in Degrees, Minutes and Seconds, press Y.





12.3.5	Last Point of Interest Announced.
To hear the last POI announced, press P.   To hear details about the announced POI, such as addresses and phone numbers, Press SPACE with P.   You can also set this POI as a destination by pressing SPACE with D.  



12.3.6	Nearby Points of Interest.
To hear nearby POIs, press F to hear a list of POIs within a quarter of a mile in order of proximity. Once you change locations, you must press F again to sort points at your new location. 






13	Virtual Mode.


If looking around while touring the streets seems a bit overwhelming or you want to familiarize yourself with the area before you go, Virtual Mode allows you to look at the maps without having to actually be in the location being explored.  This means that you can explore the layout of the streets, preview a route, or virtually walk around the vicinity of a point of interest, address or lat/lon. You might set your destination to a particular point of interest and then wish to know what else is in the vicinity of that destination. The Virtual Mode allows you to do this. You can be exploring in Virtual Mode and check on your relative GPS position at any time with the I Information key. Toggle between GPS and Virtual modes with V.  When you go into Virtual mode, any automatically 
repeated commands will be switched off until you return to GPS mode.



13.1	Virtual Explore Mode

A virtual position can be set by address, route waypoint, POI or lat/lon or to your GPS location.  See the respective sections about how to make these settings. Once you are set to one of these positions, you can use the Virtual Explore Mode commands to navigate around the map or you can use the POI Find functions to see what is near your Virtual position. Setting an address or lat/lon position is the quickest way to explore an area hundreds of miles away.
Let’s use the example from the Foreword where I am in Chicago and want to know what is around my hotel, so that I can plan a business meeting.  First, I want to know the layout of the streets.  I press V to go into virtual mode, the BrailleNote will announce that my virtual position is 150 Main Street, the address of the hotel. I press Dots 2356 to move forward one intersection.  I hear “On Main Street, 256 feet to 2nd Avenue.”  If I move ahead one more intersection, I hear “On Main Street, 438 feet to 3rd Avenue.”  From this I can conclude that Main Street intersects the numbered avenues.  If I want to turn left or right, I press Dots 23 or Dots 56 respectively.  I can start to mentally picture the grid of the streets around my hotel.  
To hear about nearby restaurants, I can conduct an advanced search by pressing SPACE with F.  I will be prompted for a POI distance, since I want nearby POIs, I will press ENTER for a starting distance at my current location and ENTER again for a 1 mile ending distance.  Next, I will enter restaurant for the category and press ENTER when asked for a search string.  Once, I have chosen my restaurant, I set that as my destination by pressing SPACE with D. 

Now with my virtual position set to the hotel and my destination set to the restaurant, I can create a route to the restaurant from the hotel by pressing the route command R and then P for Pedestrian.  You can virtually explore routes with or without the GPS on. 

Once you load or automatically create a route in Explore mode, pressing the Explore Forward command, Dots 2356, moves by waypoint (in detailed mode) or turn (in turns only mode). Your explore position moves with you but you cannot turn right or left while the route is open. You can only follow the route. You can use the backward command, SPACE with Dots 2356 as many times as you like whereas in Explore mode, you can only back up once.

You have two choices for exploring a route in Virtual mode. By default, virtual routes are set for you to move from waypoint to waypoint with the Forward navigation keys in what is called Detailed mode. Each waypoint intersection will be announced as you reach it. You can toggle to Turns-only mode by pressing R then M. Then each press of the Forward command will move you to the next turn, skipping the interim waypoints. You will first hear the waypoint intersection you have reached and then the instruction which way to turn. The turn by turn mode allows you to focus on the overview of the route. 

Once you close the route, all Explore functions such as left and right are again active and your Explore position is at the location of the last waypoint in your route.

This is particularly useful for looking at routes in another town. It is also helpful when in a vehicle and you need to be several waypoints or turns ahead of the driver on the route.  This gives you enough time to figure out what is coming up so you can advise the driver.  You may wish to preview a route on the BrailleNote and then navigate strictly by memory, leaving your BrailleNote at home.  
When exploring a route you can always set your virtual position to any waypoint along the route.  Just highlight the waypoint or turn and then set your virtual position to that point by pressing SPACE with V.


13.1.1	Important Virtual Mode commands:

Set Virtual to GPS;	SPACE with G,

Query relative GPS or Virtual position;	I,

Switch between GPS and Virtual Modes;	V,

Move forward an intersection;	Dots 2356

Move backward an intersection:	SPACE with Dots 2356

Turn left at an intersection:	Dots 23

Turn right at an intersection:	Dots 56

Jump to the start of a route:	SPACE with Dots 123 

Jump to the end of a route:	SPACE with Dots 456

Set a POI or Explore position as your Destination;	SPACE with D.

Set a POI or waypoint as your Virtual position;	SPACE with V.

Note that setting your virtual position by pressing SPACE with V will either set your virtual position to the current POI or waypoint depending upon what you were last looking at.  If you were searching for POIs then SPACE with V will set your virtual position to the current POI, if you were looking at a waypoint along a route then SPACE with V will set your virtual position to the current waypoint. The same applies to the use of the SPACE with D command for setting a POI or Explore position as your destination. The command will apply to the last function you were performing. 






14	Miscellaneous Functions.

This section covers a range of miscellaneous general functions available while using the GPS.



14.1	Append to Clipboard.

BACKSPACE with K will copy the last GPS message and append it to the clipboard.  YThe first time you use the command, you will hear, "copied data to clipboard." Subsequent times it will say "append data to clipboard." The reason is that the Keysoft clipboard is left alone until the first time you use the command in the GPS program. At that point, the clipboard is wiped clean and the GPS data is copied. Subsequent times, the data is appended.

You can record as many GPS messages to the clipboard as you wish.   That way, you could collect, for example, restaurants that you were
interested in calling and just paste them into a file after you exit GPS.

You can also use this command to print out routes.  To do this, you would step through the route in virtual mode using the forward key command as follows:

Press Dots 2356 to move forward a waypoint (detailed mode) or turn (turns only mode) followed by BACKSPACE with K to append to clipboard.  Repeat for each turn.

Once you are finished, exit from the GPS program, open a file in KeyWord, and paste the clipboard into the file, using the standard BrailleNote Block commands.  You would then have the option of either reading through the file, or you could print or emboss the file. The data will be in computer Braille format.

Note: Anything in your clipboard before you go into the GPS program will be overwritten by the items you append from within the GPS program.


14.2	The Pedometer.

The Pedometer allows you to check how much ground you have covered in either GPS or Explore modes.  It operates in either feet or meters depending on which setting you have chosen in the Unit setting of the Options Menu.

To hear the pedometer, press B.  Any time you want to check how far you have gone, press B again and the distance will be announced.  To reset the Pedometer back to zero, press SPACE with B.  

The pedometer is not related to any routes or POIs, it just keeps track of the distance until you reset it.  The accuracy of the pedometer will 
fluctuate with the accuracy of the GPS signals available. It may accumulate distance while you are stationary as a result of this GPS fluctuation.  The pedometer does not reset when you exit the GPS program.  However, the Explore mode 
pedometer is reset to zero when you select a new Virtual position by address, lat/lon, GPS or POI position.  If it is necessary to reset the BrailleNote, the pedometer will be reset to zero.



14.2	Speed Announcement.

To hear the current speed announced, press S. Be aware that speed is based upon a GPS sample taken once a second then averaged over several seconds. This means that the speed reading in a vehicle is an indication of that vehicle’s speed some 3 to 5 seconds prior to when you press the S key.





14.3	Compass Heading.

To hear your current heading in terms of a compass reading and degrees, press H. East equals 90 degrees, South 180 degrees, West 270 degrees and North 0 degrees. The average of your heading is calculated to minimize the variations in heading due to GPS fluctuations around 30 feet. The degree reading is an excellent way to understand when you are on a curving road that would otherwise be difficult to detect by feel. Heading is not reliable under 2 miles per hour.
 


14.4	Setting GPS Time.

To set the BrailleNote’s system by GPS time, press SPACE with U.  You do need to make sure you have selected the proper Daylight Saving option 
and time zone under the BrailleNote Miscellaneous time setting. You must have a GPS fix in order to get accurate time. The GPS time is quite 
accurate.
Note that you can utilize the BrailleNote’s stopwatch while the GPS continues to operate in the background. You won’t be able to issue any 
commands to the GPS but you will hear automatic GPS announcements while the stopwatch is running. 



14.5	Altitude.

To hear the approximate altitude, press Z. This Z axis vertical reading is not quite as accurate as the X/Y horizontal GPS reading. 
Altitude accuracy is more like 50 to 75 feet (16 to 22 meters). You need at least a Fair GPS reading in order to get an altitude reading from the BrailleNote GPS. You wouldn’t want to fly an airplane based upon the BrailleNote GPS altitude reading but it sure is fun to hear your 
approximate altitude when flying.  When you are within 100 feet, 30 meters, of sea level, your BrailleNote will announce “near sea level” instead of announcing an exact number.




