LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport is the first airport in the country to offer their passengers with a new state-of-the-art technology and Paul Ferrara is one passenger taking advantage of the tool. 

What You Need To Know

  • Goodmaps is a Louisville-based company to further the cause of accessible navigation

  • Goodmaps Explore is an app that can be downloaded to provide indoor mapping data

  • Goodmaps Explore can be found at the Actors Theater, Speed Art Museum and the Kentucky School for the Blind.

For years, Ferrera has relied on his cane to get around.

“I got too much oxygen because I was premature at birth and back in that day they couldn’t regulate it and so it does damage to your retinas at different levels and mine left me with no vision,” Ferrara said.

Goodmaps Explore is a navigational tool used for visually impaired and blind passengers like Paul Ferrara. (Spectrum News 1/Erin Wilson)

Now, thanks to a new navigational tool called Goodmaps Explore, getting around is a little easier for visually impaired and blind passengers like Ferrara.

“They came in and actually mapped the interior of our terminal with lidar technology so on the app it tells the user where the restrooms are, where the water fountains are, that you’re approaching the TSA security checkpoint,” Natalie Chaudoin, director of public relations at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport said.

The Louisville airport is the first in the country to use this technology. It’s now as easy as downloading the app created by the Louisville-based company Goodmaps and letting your phone lead the way.

“Better ability to go into an unfamiliar place or a semi-familiar place and navigate without another person and that’s extremely important. There’s just not always people around,” Ferrara said. “Sometimes you have to do things on your own.”

Ferrara still has to rely on some of his other senses to get around.

“You still have to listen for the escalator, you still have to find it, you still have to do all those other things. This is an aid, this is not the be-all, end-all. No app is going to do that for you,” Ferrara said.

The state-of-the-art technology is something Ferrara never thought would be possible.

“It feels like so long ago, that no, that was just not possible. There were no cellphones then, let alone internet, so there was no way to even imagine some of that stuff,” Ferrara said.

In addition to the Louisville Muhammad Ali Internatuinal Airport, Goodmaps Explore can also be found at many businesses around Louisville, including the Actors Theater, Speed Art Museum and the Kentucky School for the Blind. 

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