KarunaNews Story

Waymap has created an app-based navigation tool and mapped every inch of the Lord’s cricket ground in London. The company claims the 31,000-capacity stadium is the world’s first sports arena to be fitted with a personal GPS that aims to offer a fine-grain version of traffic navigation systems for stadiums, shopping centers and transport networks. Waymap used a £50,000 (about $67,500) camera to scan every staircase, walkway, slope, doorway and concourse to create a digital twin of the historic cricket ground, allowing its app to guide people meter-by-meter to their destination. The app is intended to help blind, partially sighted and disabled fans to better access live sports. “The goal would be [to extend it to places like] Wembley, football stadiums and cricket stadiums, and we’re in talks with horse racing tracks,” said Celso Zuccollo. “The idea is amazing for blind people,” said Ahmed, a visually impaired cricketer who tested the app. “If it works 100% properly, I can come to the train station myself, I can cross the road myself and I can come to the stadium and find my way with the app. I know so many people who are into sports but don’t go. This would push the door completely open for them.”