A few months ago I got a call from Joe Cioffi. Joe is an old college classmate of mine who has spent the last 30 years teaching deaf and blind students. He was thinking of starting a software company and was looking for some help.
We reconnected recently after the untimely death of another friend who had lived in our dorm. At the end of the call Joe asked if I had time to review his brochure and to look at a demo of his product.
Joe started InTouch Graphics in December with Phil Agee, a former Wall Street software developer. In March, they released their first version of ClickAndGo Wayfinding Maps, and have been out meeting with prospects ever since.
When I saw the demo, my first reaction was “MapQuest for the blind and deaf.” The directions are very precise and designed for pedestrians. I tried to get a screenshot so that you can see them. I trust Joe or Phil will post one to this blog.
When Joe and I were in college, we had a blind student in our hall. In those days, schools would hire a mobility instructor to show a student around campus. Over time, the student would accumulate mental maps of all of the key facilities on campus. As Joe explained to me, “This can be very challenging at a campus like the University of Minnesota, which has 200 buildings. In addition, sighted people don’t know how to give directions.”
Here is how it works for blind students. They can access the maps via their cell phone or download them to an MP3 player or to their PC and read the maps with a Braille converter. Each map includes a starting landmark and a destination landmark. The intention is to compile routes and have the database grow like Wikipedia.
The plan is to provide the maps for free to deaf and deafblind students and travelers. Over the last few months, Joe has been meeting with universities and government agencies. He plans to target museums, hotels, airports and public transportation agencies to see if they are interested in buying his software so that he can add to the maps.
I suggested that he might also look for sponsors. While now might not be the best time, socially-minded companies like Starbucks might be interested in this as a public service.
Joe has a pretty cool idea. He serves as another reminder that one or two people can make a difference. If you want to know more, the website is www.clickandgomaps.com.
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