Archive, portion of the TVI - Products | Columbus page

Reader's Note: The below information was taken from the TVI - Products | Columbus page at http://www.tvi-web.com/products/columbus.html. No endorsement of any company or its products is implied or understood by Thinkzo Systems or any of its affiliations. This information is provided as a courtesy in the event that the above link no longer works. The information has been formatted for easier reading but has otherwise not been modified from the original.

Using the Columbus as a Personal Mobility Aid.

The compass is operated by pressing the button mounted on the top of the case. As long as this button is depressed, the compass will speak the direction in which it is pointed.

Leveling

For accurate measurement of the compass direction, the compass should not be more than twelve degrees out of the horizontal plane. There is a technique for establishing the proper position, which can also be used as an orientation method.

The compass is held before the body, with the arrow on the button pointing forward, in the operating hand - right for a right-handed person or left for a left-handed person - with the palm in a cup-shape underneath the compass and the thumb curving over the top of the compass to reach the button. If the user holds their elbows at waist level, the forearm can be radiated naturally into a position which makes this cupping hold simple and unforced. Now the user should bring the other hand, in a similar cupped position, under the operating hand. With this handhold, it should be possible to avoid tilting the compass to the left or right. The hold of the arms should bring the arms and torso into the same direction. The user should swivel their head left to right and then to the centre, to make sure their face is directed in the same line as the compass and the rest of their body. Leveling using Tilt.

The compass button is depressed, and held down for the whole exercise. When the button is first depressed, the user will hear the compass saying a direction like "South-West". The rest of this technique works most clearly when the user is facing East or West - other directions will give some confusing results. However, they need to do this while they are facing in a single direction, so they shouldn't turn too far from where they start to get an easterly or westerly direction.

First, the vertical position must be determined. If the user inclines the compass so that it is pointing more in an upwards direction, the magnetic influence will change and a new position will be announced: in Australia and other Southern Hemisphere countries this is usually North added to the real direction, while in the Northern Hemisphere it is usually South. If the user then lowers the point of the compass so that it passes through a central, outward-facing position, another position will be announced, corresponding to the first position heard. The user should keep lowering the point of the compass until it is pointing floorwards, where a third position should be announced - the opposite, usually, of the upwards position. It's possible by going through this to establish the centre position and to orient the compass on this.

Now the horizontal position must be established. This is done by moving the compass in an arc horizontally - either by moving the arm or by moving the body. For many users, moving the arm may be more disorienting than helpful, particularly if they are in danger of losing the vertical orientation already established - in this case, it may be better to swing the body slightly to the left, then back through the centre position and to the right. This will establish three positions from which the user can orient on the centre.

It may also be that for some users it is more effective to orient horizontally and then vertically; this sort of assessment is much better done in the field by the mobility professional.

Environmental awareness

As you have seen from the position-finding demonstration, the directions spoken by Columbus give the user information about the abstract environment, and their place in it. This is not meant to supersede other forms of environmental awareness, but to supplement it, as would the use of any compass. What we hope is that, by using a compass which interferes less with normal travel and orientation, the user can fit compass awareness seamlessly into their total mobility skills.

Independent movement skills

We have also found that the Columbus gives supplementary feedback to the user to assist in the development of independent movement skills
  • for dynamic posture: the compass direction spoken will deviate when the student holds the compass differently, thus showing the moving relationship of one body part to another. This information can be useful to trainer and trainee for reinforcing other methods of establishing bodily awareness.
  • for straight-line maintenance - as the user's path deviates, so does direction spoken by the Columbus. Again, this feedback can be used for reinforcement, although the deviation caused by elevation or depression of the "nose" of the compass must be taken into account during exercises of this type.
  • turns can be followed dynamically using the Columbus. This is particularly useful in reinforcing 180? turns.
  • squaring-off can be reinforced using the ninety-degree angle between cardinal points. Compass Mobility Training Columbus was initially designed as an aid to understanding cardinal and inter-cardinal compass points and their relationships. Since using a standard compass or a Braille compass can actually interrupt the flow of training and may disorient the new trainee to some extent, it is possible that Columbus may be able to be fitted seamlessly into standard orientation training, without interfering markedly between trainer and trainee. All the standard benefits of using a compass and compass directions can be derived from using the Columbus, both in mobility training and in normal daily mobility:
  • Personal orientation and environment monitoring
  • Route layout and description
  • Description of line of travel
  • Establishment of landmarks
  • Explicit directions over large distances
  • Systematic maintenance of orientation
  • Formulation of relationships between points
  • As an aid to self-familiarisation in an unfamiliar environment

General Use

General mobility use of the Columbus, particularly following its use in orientation & mobility training, should be simple for the user, not requiring any great effort after initial familiarisation. We would recommend that the strap is used so that the compass rides outside the user's clothing: first, for easy access when it is needed, and second, so that the button is not kept depressed accidentally, causing the batteries to lose charge.

Reader's Note: The above information was taken from the TVI - Products | Columbus page at http://www.tvi-web.com/products/columbus.html. No endorsement of any company or its products is implied or understood by Thinkzo Systems or any of its affiliations. This information is provided as a courtesy in the event that the above link no longer works. The information has been formatted for easier reading but has otherwise not been modified from the original.


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