GRR Airport launches GoodMaps to enhance accessibility

Gerald R. Ford International Airport has launched the GoodMaps navigation platform, enhancing accessibility with turn-by-turn indoor wayfinding, multilingual support and emergency navigation features.

Summary:

Gerald R. Ford International Airport has launched the GoodMaps digital navigation platform to enhance accessibility and wayfinding for all travellers, particularly passengers with disabilities.
The smartphone-based solution provides highly accurate turn-by-turn indoor navigation, supports more than 27 languages and includes emergency wayfinding capabilities.
Originally piloted through the airport’s FLITE innovation programme, the deployment demonstrates how airports can use technology to deliver more inclusive passenger experiences.

Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority – a Corporate Partner of the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub – is launching GoodMaps, a new navigation system designed to enhance access for all travellers, particularly individuals with disabilities.

Originally tested through the airport’s Ford Launchpad for Innovative Technologies and Entrepreneurship, or FLITE, GoodMaps is a digital wayfinding platform designed to help people confidently navigate complex indoor spaces. GoodMaps provides highly accurate, turn-by-turn directions through a smartphone app to enhance accessibility and independence for all travellers, including individuals who are blind, have low vision, are deaf or hard of hearing, have mobility challenges or other accessibility needs. Additionally, the app offers an alert system, which corresponds with airport’s dispatch centre, to help passengers navigate during an emergency.

“We are passionate about providing an exceptional experience to all guests who choose us for their journeys,” said Airport Authority President and CEO Tory Richardson. “We’re excited to launch this new technology, which will offer guests who may need extra support on navigating the airport a quality resource to make their journey easier but also to improve wayfinding during emergencies. Through our innovation programme, FLITE, GoodMaps was able to come onsite to scan and build a digital map of the airport before working with our dispatchers and end-users on how to use the technology in emergency situations. We are thrilled to continue partnering with them to offer the app live for our guests.”

The platform is supported in more than 27 languages via the user’s device, helping ensure critical information is available and understandable to international visitors and Limited English Proficient passengers.

“Ford International Airport is demonstrating how an airport can use live testing to explore the future of accessible communication and wayfinding,” said GoodMaps CEO Theresa Reno-Weber. “By running our navigation project through the FLITE programme at the Ford International Airport, we hope to inform how airports everywhere can better serve travellers with disabilities and anyone who benefits from real‑time, accessible information.”