Soundscape, a research project created by Microsoft in 2017, is essentially a navigation app (iOS platform), but unlike traditional navigation apps, Soundscape uses 3D audio cues to enrich the user’s awareness of the environment, allowing users to Feel your surroundings in an immersive way without having to look at directions on your phone’s tiny screen.

For example, when you walk, Soundscape will automatically prompt the roads, intersections, landmarks, and key points of interest manually marked by the user.

Therefore, it can also be seen that the project is aimed at the visually impaired. Through this project, Microsoft will explore the use of audio-based innovations to enable these people to build a richer understanding of the surrounding environment, so that they can go out with ease. play.

Recently, Microsoft announced that from a research perspective, the Soundscape project has completed its mission. The project will be available as open source software on January 3, 2023. The source code of the application will also be released on GitHub on the above date, and There will be documentation on how to build and use it.

Also on January 3, 2023, the Soundscape app will not be available for download from the App Store, and users who already have it installed will continue to be able to use it until June 2023. The Azure service powering the application will also be out of service in June 2023. It’s worth noting that since Soundscape is iOS-only, this open-source release will also be iOS-only.

As for why Microsoft decided to release Soundscape as an open source project? Microsoft explained:

As our research portfolio grows, it is natural to end or transfer some projects. We feel the community could benefit from the novel experiences we develop for the Soundscape research project, which is why we’re releasing the code as open source software. Now is the time to move the Soundscape research project to the next stage.