The man who made life easier for the blind

Google recalls this Monday to the Japanese Seiichi Miyake: He originally wanted to help a friend whose eyesight was limited. Meanwhile, his invention is used worldwide.
Anyone calling Google's home page in numerous countries this Monday , including Germany, sees the drawn-up close-up of a street instead of the usual logo, some paving stones are grooved, others with pimples - on it stand a person with a cane. Google is reminiscent of the Japanese inventor Seiichi Miyake (1926-1982).

The so-called blind guidance system goes back to him; also called guideline system or tactile floor guidance system. These are systems that allow visually impaired or blind people, for example, using a stick safely move in public space: For this purpose in the soil certain indicators are embedded, grooves or pimples. You can see them in everyday life, for example on platforms, at pedestrian lights or in public places.

In 1965, Seiichi Miyake invested his own money to develop the tactile plates, according to the accompanying text to Doodle . He wanted to help a friend whose sight had diminished. The knobs that can be felt on the ground signal danger - for example, the crossing from the pedestrian walkway to the street is marked on a road crossing. The grooves mean that you are on a safe path.

The indicators can be recorded with a cane, with the feet or with a guide dog - with the doodle are gradually to see all three variants.

For the first time, the plates were therefore introduced in a street near the Okayama School for the Blind - on March 18, 1967