Have you ever made plans to go somewhere new, packed the car with your electric wheelchair or mobility scooter and ensure you have all you need for the journey, to arrive and find you are unable to enter the building, or unable to access the toilet? It is so frustrating when this happens, unfortunately, this happens all to often, and has happened to my husband Michael several times. Sometimes it could just be a step without a slope that stops you from going any further.
Accessible Places is a new Google Maps feature enabling wheelchair and scooters users to easily find out whether a location is wheelchair accessible before you leave your home.
Google Maps launched Accessible Places as part of Google’s ambition to build a better, more helpful map for everyone, helping people with reduced mobility to find accessible places with ease.
You can now turn on the Accessible Places feature to have wheelchair accessibility information more prominently displayed in Google Maps. When Accessible Places is switched on, a wheelchair icon will indicate an accessible entrance. People can also see whether the location has accessible seating, toilets, and parking.
If the place does not have an accessible entrance, Google Maps will also share this information with you.
Accessible Places is initially being rolled out for Google Maps users in the UK, United States, Australia and Japan, with support for additional countries to come in the near future.
Now, Google Maps has wheelchair accessibility information for over 15 million places globally, with the help of retailers that have shared accessibility information with Google to help create the Accessible Places feature.
The feature is available on both Android and iOS devices.
Courtesy of google and Thiis Magazine 17 June 2020
https://blog.google/products/maps/wheelchair-accessible-places-google-maps/
