A remote guide can assure the visually impaired user is getting the correct change.

Shopping for a gift for a sighted friend can be a team effort with a remote guide assisting.

Genoa Services is a nonprofit organization assisting visually impaired persons to achieve more independence and mobility using the Genoa Connection as a supplement to their cane and/or guide dog.  The Genoa Connection uses state of the art audio/video wireless technology that permits communication between a blind end-user and a remote guide who is sitting in front of a computer.  The blind users are not tethered to stationary computers but wear light weight hands free equipment that can be carried in a fanny pack. The end-user has true mobility as the remote guide provides information to assist them with any task virtually anywhere there is a wireless signal and access to the information on the internet.

Click here to read about the beta testing.

Click here to see a short explanatory video by Alison Victor of av-multimeda.

Our non-profit organization is now registered as Genoa Services. We wish to thank all of you who have contacted us since October 2008. The worldwide response has been amazing. 

In December 2008 Genoa Services added the talents of a top Silicon Valley computer designer to our team.  His designs along with support from several Silicon Valley firms will insure that the participants of the beta testing group in 2009 will have the maximum benefits of the latest technological advances in webcams, computer miniaturization, wireless broadcast range and extended battery life. Fill out the contact information on the How to Help Page to get a more detailed update on our progress.

We will soon contact volunteers in the San Francisco Bay Area to begin the Genoa experience. At this time we are looking for additional funding to buy hardware before we can begin actual testing with volunteers. The most beneficial assistance you may offer would be to make a tax-deductible donation via the Belmont Rotary Club (Click on the How to Help Page of this website and you can do this today). Then we can fund the first ten volunteers and move on with expansion of this technology to your area.

Donations: Please see the How to Help page

The use of Genoa Services’ technology is specifically designed for assistance of the sight impaired and is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Ed Gallagher’s guide dog Genoa is the namesake  for the organization.

Even with the assistance of a smart guide dog, the visually impaired can’t read labels, menus or check food for ripeness.

admin@genoaconnections.org

Genoa Guidance Systems
p.o. box 14349
San Francisco, CA, 94114

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