May 10, 2024 • 9 mins
GoodMaps CEO Theresa Reno-Weber discusses the need for indoor navigation software (maps inside buildings), the doors this software opens for those of limited vision, where you can use it around Louisville, and the future of GoodMaps...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Well, we're going all kinds ofplaces around the world. I have friends
who find themselves in places around theworld. One of them is Ben Reno
Weber. He's been in Here's inhere a month ago. He's on our
Metro Council as a matter of fact, and the much smarter half of the
coupling of that family. I've knowneven longer than Ben. Hi Terrese Arena
Weber. It's going to have youback. It's awesome to be back.
(00:21):
Didn't we meet when you were likerunning the United Way. That's right,
Metro United Away just a few yearsago. Yeah, that's right. That's
when I was first introduced to you. And I know you've had some other
prominent titles. I told people youwere coming up on here. You have
just had an amazing career so far, I think. So it's fun,
yeah at your youthful stage. Andthen I heard Ben was in here and
(00:44):
we got talking off the air aboutwhat you were up to now, and
I was like, that is brilliant. So I want you to explain good
maps. Yeah, good maps.Well, and it's easy to best explain
it for folks as the Google Mapsof the indoors. So how many of
us have used our navigation apps,Google Maps, ways, whatever it is
to get from one place to anotheroutdoors, all of us, right,
(01:07):
But when you get to the frontdoor of the venue you are going to,
there is no way to navigate youturn by turn indoors. So think
of heading to the Young Center,think of heading to the Louisville Airport.
Or if you're overseas in London atone of those massive train stations that they
have and you've never been there beforeand you need to figure out how to
get to the train platform, thebathroom, the coffee shop. Good Maps
(01:27):
is your indoor navigation app to getyou turned by turn to those destinations.
And even better, we launched outof a partnership with the American Printing House
for the Blind. Oh so,if you are blind, low vision,
mobility impaired, deaf, neurodiverse,or like the majority of us, directionally
challenged, you can use this tofind your way with confidence and independence indoors.
(01:52):
Why am I thanking you my wifeand daughter right now? Stop it?
Hey, you are telling me thatyou could use that I can use
it indoors. But when we walkout of a place and neither one of
them knows where the car is everwhich direction. But I think this is
brilliant because my wife will tell me, hey, get some of that salsa
when you're in the Giant store andI'm like, oh now I got to
(02:12):
go trapes up and down all theseplaces that what isle is that in?
But you're talking about this is aremedy for that as well. Absolutely,
And I will say so we've hada lot of traction in the UK.
The UK has a little bit moreyou know, sort of like progressive policies
when it comes to accessibility, andthey've got a mandate around digital accessibility.
So I mentioned that we are throughoutmost of the rail stations in the United
(02:36):
Kingdom. We are also in theAsda stores, which are kind of like
the Walmart target equivalents overseas, andso there you can use the app to
navigate within the aisles of that storeto find your tahini and your salsa of
choice and your vegan bacon or whateverit is. Right, So we are
really working hard. We want toget into our Kroger's, we want to
(02:57):
get into our Costcos, we wantto get into our Lows. We want
to make it easy for individuals whoare shopping and maybe get a honeyde list
to find what they need to findreally quickly. It's exactly how I shop.
She'll send me these things. Idon't know the brand right, and
sometimes there are in different places.She's pretty good about laying it out categorically.
But that's not enough. I wouldlove to be able to walk right
to it. Yeah, we wouldlove to help you, which is brilliant.
(03:21):
Okay, So I understand there's alocal application coming soon for a kind
of a famous building in this city. Well, we've got actually quite a
few famous buildings in this city alreadymapped. So if you go to your
Android app store, your iOS AppleApp Store, you can download good Maps
Indoor Navigation app right now for free. And you can use it at the
(03:43):
Muhammad Ali Center, you can useit at the Fraser History Museum. You
can use it at the Science Center. You can use it at the Speed
Art Museum. You can use itat the Louisville Airport, you can use
it at Metro Hall. You canalso soon use it at the Young Center.
So boom, Yeah, that's whatI was talking about. Like someone
invites you to the circus or thegame or the concert or whatever it is.
Once you get inside the KFCM center, it tells you which way to
(04:06):
go to find to find the entranceto your seats. We won't navigate you
to your individual seat. And whyI say it's coming real soon is because
we had it online and on ourapp store, and then we realized that
we needed to update it because there'sso many events that happen at night.
And the unique thing about good Mapsis that we use the camera on your
(04:28):
phone to pick out points of interestaround you and identify where you are in
the space without the need for thevenue to install any hardware. So they
don't have to have beacons or sensorsin there. There's no GPS indoors,
right. So the innovation that Goodmt'shas developed is something called computer vision model
to be able to identify where youare inside and indoor location based on the
(04:48):
imagery around you. And so howwas that mapped? I'm fascinated by it.
Oh, we we walked every squareSomeone has done that space. Yes,
So when you're talking about the FraserHistory Museum, someone walked all the
square footage available to the public,that's right, and then labeled all of
the points of interest in the FraserHistory Museum. So when you download the
(05:09):
good Maps app, you can pullup that map right now of the Fraser
History Museum and you can look atwhat's on floor one, what's on floor
two, what's on four three.You can have sort of a list of
the different exhibits that they have therecurrently. Oh and it even updates on
that because things change that we goback out and update as those exhibits change.
(05:30):
Right now, but future facing,we want to be able to ingest
updates that are coming through by youknow users who say, hey, by
the way, this thing is differentnow it looks like this, or here's
a new app or a new excuseme exhibit that they have, and you
know many of us who have usedways before that crowdsourcing of data and information
is something that we think could bepossible in the future. And for visually
(05:50):
impaired people. Wow, this opensup all kinds of gates. It's huge.
It's been so amazing to watch folkswho previously had to have individuals guide
them through indoor spaces. Right,so you're not able to be independent,
you have to wait and rely onsomeone else. Think of in the airports
having to wait for passenger assist whenyou could use your cane and your guide
(06:12):
dog to independently navigate you to yournext gate if you had the assistance of
something like good maps. So LouisvilleAirport, the Portland, Oregon Airport has
good maps, and we're currently inconversations with a lot of other large airports
in the US and Canada end overin the UK to have good maps there.
And then you just have to havesomebody who goes and does the actual
visual tracking exactly. And it's justa one time thing for us. So
(06:35):
if we go and we scan thatspace, if there's changes in the future,
sometimes it's a quick update scan forus. We don't have to redo
the entire mapping process. We justhave to take a scan of the area
that's changed really significantly. And wehave a lot of room for you know,
we've moved the planter or the trashcan or whatever that doesn't you know,
to have an update. It's notyou don't have to worry about Wi
(06:59):
fi the any issues. You wantto have either a Wi Fi or cell
signal. But we are working onthe ability to download the maps onto your
phone and so if you're underground andyou don't have access to that you won't
have to have that if you've alreadypreloaded the map, and then I don't
know how this works legally, buthow do you keep people from stealing your
ideas since it's already good? Sucha good question. Yeah, yeah,
(07:21):
So we actually have a patent onour indoor technology and we're working on getting
several other patents for sort of ancillarycomponents to our technology and our algorithm.
That's the problem. As soon asyour idea floats into the space, everybody
goes, oh, there you go, and then they make up some other
name and steal your concepts. Yeah, we're hoping to, you know,
(07:41):
keep ourselves protected by filing that.But it's it's definitely something that the team
at Good Maps has been developing overthe last you know, five years,
thanks to again initial insight from theAmerican Printing House for the Blind and then
this great scrappy startup that we've gotright on Frankfurt ab here in Louisville,
Kentucky. That's it base right there, not too far from the American print
(08:01):
House, just down the road,just down the block. Well, Teresa,
it's great to see you again.I think this is brilliant, all
right, tell people again, whatthey need to go download to get the
app, So regardless of whether onan Android or an Apple phone, go
to the app store. It isfree. Look for good maps indoor navigation.
You can check out and see ifthere's a building near you that has
(08:22):
already been mapped by us. Andif you go to a space frequently and
it's not yet mapped, shoot usa note or let them know that you
want good maps there. We'd bemore than happy to come out and map
it. That's terrific. And thewhole idea is right to be global and
have this done everywhere. Yeah,and to have all these spaces be accessible.
Right. We want the indoor worldto be more enjoyable, be more
interactive, be more inclusive for everyone, and this is a way to do
(08:46):
it good. And then Ben's doingwell. I guess I haven't talked to
him. Well, isn't there?He's in that primary doing great. He
is running for Metro Council District eightseat. He's an incumbent right now.
The early voting starts May sixteenth,which is our ten year old daughter's eleventh
birthday. So she is asking everyonewho votes that she knows to go out
on May sixteenth and do early votingfor her dad. Happy birthday to Dado,
(09:11):
right, yeah, happy extension.Anyway, it's great to see you
guys. Glad you're doing well.Thank you so much for having us on.
All right, Teresa A. RenoWeber. It is good maps,
and that's the app you're looking for, you say, intern Indoor Navigation,
Indoor navigation. All right, we'recoming right back here on news Radio eight forty whas
Well, we're going all kinds ofplaces around the world. I have friends
who find themselves in places around theworld. One of them is Ben Reno
Weber. He's been in Here's inhere a month ago. He's on our
Metro Council as a matter of fact, and the much smarter half of the
coupling of that family. I've knowneven longer than Ben. Hi Terrese Arena
Weber. It's going to have youback. It's awesome to be back.
(00:21):
Didn't we meet when you were likerunning the United Way. That's right,
Metro United Away just a few yearsago. Yeah, that's right. That's
when I was first introduced to you. And I know you've had some other
prominent titles. I told people youwere coming up on here. You have
just had an amazing career so far, I think. So it's fun,
yeah at your youthful stage. Andthen I heard Ben was in here and
(00:44):
we got talking off the air aboutwhat you were up to now, and
I was like, that is brilliant. So I want you to explain good
maps. Yeah, good maps.Well, and it's easy to best explain
it for folks as the Google Mapsof the indoors. So how many of
us have used our navigation apps,Google Maps, ways, whatever it is
to get from one place to anotheroutdoors, all of us, right,
(01:07):
But when you get to the frontdoor of the venue you are going to,
there is no way to navigate youturn by turn indoors. So think
of heading to the Young Center,think of heading to the Louisville Airport.
Or if you're overseas in London atone of those massive train stations that they
have and you've never been there beforeand you need to figure out how to
get to the train platform, thebathroom, the coffee shop. Good Maps
(01:27):
is your indoor navigation app to getyou turned by turn to those destinations.
And even better, we launched outof a partnership with the American Printing House
for the Blind. Oh so,if you are blind, low vision,
mobility impaired, deaf, neurodiverse,or like the majority of us, directionally
challenged, you can use this tofind your way with confidence and independence indoors.
(01:52):
Why am I thanking you my wifeand daughter right now? Stop it?
Hey, you are telling me thatyou could use that I can use
it indoors. But when we walkout of a place and neither one of
them knows where the car is everwhich direction. But I think this is
brilliant because my wife will tell me, hey, get some of that salsa
when you're in the Giant store andI'm like, oh now I got to
(02:12):
go trapes up and down all theseplaces that what isle is that in?
But you're talking about this is aremedy for that as well. Absolutely,
And I will say so we've hada lot of traction in the UK.
The UK has a little bit moreyou know, sort of like progressive policies
when it comes to accessibility, andthey've got a mandate around digital accessibility.
So I mentioned that we are throughoutmost of the rail stations in the United
(02:36):
Kingdom. We are also in theAsda stores, which are kind of like
the Walmart target equivalents overseas, andso there you can use the app to
navigate within the aisles of that storeto find your tahini and your salsa of
choice and your vegan bacon or whateverit is. Right, So we are
really working hard. We want toget into our Kroger's, we want to
(02:57):
get into our Costcos, we wantto get into our Lows. We want
to make it easy for individuals whoare shopping and maybe get a honeyde list
to find what they need to findreally quickly. It's exactly how I shop.
She'll send me these things. Idon't know the brand right, and
sometimes there are in different places.She's pretty good about laying it out categorically.
But that's not enough. I wouldlove to be able to walk right
to it. Yeah, we wouldlove to help you, which is brilliant.
(03:21):
Okay, So I understand there's alocal application coming soon for a kind
of a famous building in this city. Well, we've got actually quite a
few famous buildings in this city alreadymapped. So if you go to your
Android app store, your iOS AppleApp Store, you can download good Maps
Indoor Navigation app right now for free. And you can use it at the
(03:43):
Muhammad Ali Center, you can useit at the Fraser History Museum. You
can use it at the Science Center. You can use it at the Speed
Art Museum. You can use itat the Louisville Airport, you can use
it at Metro Hall. You canalso soon use it at the Young Center.
So boom, Yeah, that's whatI was talking about. Like someone
invites you to the circus or thegame or the concert or whatever it is.
Once you get inside the KFCM center, it tells you which way to
(04:06):
go to find to find the entranceto your seats. We won't navigate you
to your individual seat. And whyI say it's coming real soon is because
we had it online and on ourapp store, and then we realized that
we needed to update it because there'sso many events that happen at night.
And the unique thing about good Mapsis that we use the camera on your
(04:28):
phone to pick out points of interestaround you and identify where you are in
the space without the need for thevenue to install any hardware. So they
don't have to have beacons or sensorsin there. There's no GPS indoors,
right. So the innovation that Goodmt'shas developed is something called computer vision model
to be able to identify where youare inside and indoor location based on the
(04:48):
imagery around you. And so howwas that mapped? I'm fascinated by it.
Oh, we we walked every squareSomeone has done that space. Yes,
So when you're talking about the FraserHistory Museum, someone walked all the
square footage available to the public,that's right, and then labeled all of
the points of interest in the FraserHistory Museum. So when you download the
(05:09):
good Maps app, you can pullup that map right now of the Fraser
History Museum and you can look atwhat's on floor one, what's on floor
two, what's on four three.You can have sort of a list of
the different exhibits that they have therecurrently. Oh and it even updates on
that because things change that we goback out and update as those exhibits change.
(05:30):
Right now, but future facing,we want to be able to ingest
updates that are coming through by youknow users who say, hey, by
the way, this thing is differentnow it looks like this, or here's
a new app or a new excuseme exhibit that they have, and you
know many of us who have usedways before that crowdsourcing of data and information
is something that we think could bepossible in the future. And for visually
(05:50):
impaired people. Wow, this opensup all kinds of gates. It's huge.
It's been so amazing to watch folkswho previously had to have individuals guide
them through indoor spaces. Right,so you're not able to be independent,
you have to wait and rely onsomeone else. Think of in the airports
having to wait for passenger assist whenyou could use your cane and your guide
(06:12):
dog to independently navigate you to yournext gate if you had the assistance of
something like good maps. So LouisvilleAirport, the Portland, Oregon Airport has
good maps, and we're currently inconversations with a lot of other large airports
in the US and Canada end overin the UK to have good maps there.
And then you just have to havesomebody who goes and does the actual
visual tracking exactly. And it's justa one time thing for us. So
(06:35):
if we go and we scan thatspace, if there's changes in the future,
sometimes it's a quick update scan forus. We don't have to redo
the entire mapping process. We justhave to take a scan of the area
that's changed really significantly. And wehave a lot of room for you know,
we've moved the planter or the trashcan or whatever that doesn't you know,
to have an update. It's notyou don't have to worry about Wi
(06:59):
fi the any issues. You wantto have either a Wi Fi or cell
signal. But we are working onthe ability to download the maps onto your
phone and so if you're underground andyou don't have access to that you won't
have to have that if you've alreadypreloaded the map, and then I don't
know how this works legally, buthow do you keep people from stealing your
ideas since it's already good? Sucha good question. Yeah, yeah,
(07:21):
So we actually have a patent onour indoor technology and we're working on getting
several other patents for sort of ancillarycomponents to our technology and our algorithm.
That's the problem. As soon asyour idea floats into the space, everybody
goes, oh, there you go, and then they make up some other
name and steal your concepts. Yeah, we're hoping to, you know,
(07:41):
keep ourselves protected by filing that.But it's it's definitely something that the team
at Good Maps has been developing overthe last you know, five years,
thanks to again initial insight from theAmerican Printing House for the Blind and then
this great scrappy startup that we've gotright on Frankfurt ab here in Louisville,
Kentucky. That's it base right there, not too far from the American print
(08:01):
House, just down the road,just down the block. Well, Teresa,
it's great to see you again.I think this is brilliant, all
right, tell people again, whatthey need to go download to get the
app, So regardless of whether onan Android or an Apple phone, go
to the app store. It isfree. Look for good maps indoor navigation.
You can check out and see ifthere's a building near you that has
(08:22):
already been mapped by us. Andif you go to a space frequently and
it's not yet mapped, shoot usa note or let them know that you
want good maps there. We'd bemore than happy to come out and map
it. That's terrific. And thewhole idea is right to be global and
have this done everywhere. Yeah,and to have all these spaces be accessible.
Right. We want the indoor worldto be more enjoyable, be more
interactive, be more inclusive for everyone, and this is a way to do
(08:46):
it good. And then Ben's doingwell. I guess I haven't talked to
him. Well, isn't there?He's in that primary doing great. He
is running for Metro Council District eightseat. He's an incumbent right now.
The early voting starts May sixteenth,which is our ten year old daughter's eleventh
birthday. So she is asking everyonewho votes that she knows to go out
on May sixteenth and do early votingfor her dad. Happy birthday to Dado,
(09:11):
right, yeah, happy extension.Anyway, it's great to see you
guys. Glad you're doing well.Thank you so much for having us on.
All right, Teresa A. RenoWeber. It is good maps,
and that's the app you're looking for, you say, intern Indoor Navigation,
Indoor navigation. All right, we'recoming right back here on news Radio eight forty whas
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.