App&Town Compagnon, people with disability can travel independently on public transport

admin on 19 July 2018

Foto: Unsplash

The technological company Mass Factory in collaboration with the Foundation AMPANS and the Foundation Saint Pere Claver has developed App&Town Compagnon, a transport-assisted system for people with intellectual disability, mental illness, or memory dysfunctions, that allows them to safely use public transportation, with precise guidance provided by a mobile app, and continuous monitoring by means of a Web App in the cloud. App&Town Compagnon conforms to the Smart City Concept, improvement citizens’ quality of life through use of technology.

App&Town Compagnon is a customized transport assisted system which is adaptable to the abilities of each user. The system includes: route-planning, guidance, and remote monitoring. App&Town Compagnon is a tool that improves social inclusion, mobility, and self-esteem of its users.

In 2018 Apps&Town Compagnon won the Technology Innovation Red Cross Humanitarian Award.

Characteristics of innovation

Bank of innovations, Disability, Fully inclusive cities, Independent living, Lab, Link with the community, New service, New technological tool, Personalization of the service, User empowerment

Location

Bages Region, Barcelona, Madrid (Spain); Laval and Longueuil (Canada)

Partners / Funders

Fundació Sant Pere Claver, Fundació ONCE, STL, Smart Columbus

Genesis

Mass Factory, a spin-off of “Universitat autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)”, was founded in 2012 as a result of project developed by eight Computer Engineering students under the direction of Prof. Jordi Roig. The mobile app which was developed “OnTheBus”, now called “App&Town Going with you”, is the first commercial product of the company.

The original “OnTheBus”, is a free app for Android that allows planning urban routes, either by walking or by bus and has two distinctive characteristics:

Universal Design that facilitates its use by most of the people
An extremely precise navigational algorithm which may be used by persons with visual disability

Implementation level

In Bages Region (Spain) there are 17 intellectually impaired users
In Barcelona there are more than 50 users that include, intellectually or visually impaired people, people with mental disorders as well as senior citizens with memory deficiencies
In Madrid there are 10 users with Down syndrome
In Laval and Longueil, Canada, there are 70 users with intellectual impairment and developmental disorders

Further information