UCSB graduate uses research to help blind

11/29/02

By LEAH ETLING-STENTZEL

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Jim Marston Testing a Transmitter

When Jim Marston's life took a very unexpected turn at age 41, he decided to go back to college. Diagnosed with macular degeneration, a disease that erodes vision at sometimes rapid rates, Mr. Marston could no longer work for the Chicago land surveying company he once ran. He needed something new to do with his life.

Eight years later, he has just received his doctorate from UCSB's geography department, where a colleague of his adviser shared a bit of wisdom: "You don't have to have sight to have vision." Although he can still see peripheral objects fairly well, things in the center of Mr. Marston's view disappear. He decided to use his doctoral research to help people with even more severe visual impairments, using geography.

His adviser was Reginald Golledge, who is legally blind and has developed a talking navigation system contained in a backpack. Mr. Marston's dissertation took blind and sighted people to San Francisco to test a device called Talking Signs, which uses infrared signals to tell those who can't see where an approaching bus or train might be going. A small hand-held device about the size of a cell phone picks up signals emitted from transmitters in the bus or other vehicle.

Sitting outside a State Street coffeehouse, Mr. Marston pointed to the waterfront trolley. If it had a transmitter, he would hear: "Shuttle to Stearns Wharf." Extra programming could include the price and schedule. Mr. Marston decided to attend the UCSB geography department because of its high ranking and broad range of projects, but said he never realized just how much geography can aid the visually impaired.

"If you're sighted, you can just give a map and some good directions, but that doesn't work for a blind person," he said. Now that his dissertation project is complete, he has received post-doctoral money to test Global Positioning Satellite systems, which can help the blind by reading their location and giving directions. Though the technology wouldn't replace guide dogs or canes, Mr. Marston believes it can be invaluable for increasing mobility, and could help inform peoples' "mental maps" when new businesses open or construction changes a neighborhood street.

"People with disabilities often have a different usable space that's part of the geography but no one else sees," Mr. Marston said.

Marston's Home Page