A personal story of making Maps more accessible

Amidst all the frustrations that come along with working in any big company, I’ve always found that meeting amazing people at Google is far & away the best part of working here. In the last year I’ve gotten to collaborate a bit with Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a Google Maps engineer who’s using his own life experience of needing a wheelchair to help others navigate the world more easily. Check out his story:

[T]he more I shared with colleagues, the more I found people who wanted to help solve real-world access needs. Using “20 percent time”—time spent outside day-to-day job descriptions—my colleagues like Rio Akasaka and Dianna Hu pitched in and we launched wheelchair-friendly transit directions. That initial work has now led to a full-time team dedicated to accessibility on Maps.

[YouTube 1 & 2]

2 thoughts on “A personal story of making Maps more accessible

  1. Very cool. I pitched the exact same thing to a Ps dev a few weeks back. Would really like to have a historical record of the people involved in the evolution of tools for image creation/manipulation. A shame a few of my fave devs have already left the building though…

  2. Nice! I’ve been the one behind the wheel chair for a few years. Please include places for wheelchair vans on your map.

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