Soundscape: Life-enhancing tech preserved and scaled by volunteers
Soundscape is a free, open-source 3D audio navigation app that helps blind and partially sighted people understand their surroundings and move through urban environments with greater confidence and independence.
Built from Microsoft’s open-source Soundscape code and sustained by Scottish Tech Army volunteers, the service keeps accessible navigation available to the people who rely on it most. We launched the iOs version in 2023, and the Android version in 2026.
Our partners
The Soundscape story is an ecosystem story. We wouldn’t have been able to preserve Soundscape iOs and build the Android version from scratch, or maintain the apps and keep them free to use, without support from these partners. By providing financial support, guidance, or technical expertise, these organisations made the Soundscape project possible.
Soundscape’s origin
Amos Miller lost his sight in adulthood. Becoming a parent inspired him to instigate a research project with Microsoft and Guide Dogs to “reimagine independence and mobility for blind people with technology in its fabric”.
Amos spoke at TEDx Glasgow in 2015 about his idea that is now Soundscape.
How does it work?
Soundscape is a spatial audio mobile app that makes it possible for blind and vision impaired people to navigate their way independently around an urban environment. Features included the ability to preview routes in advance of a physical visit, save markers and do more than simply navigate from a single starting point, allowing the user flexibility in their day – in the same way as those without vision impairment take for granted.
Sustaining Soundscape through the tech for good ecosystem
Securing a viable future for Soundscape has been a tremendous collaborative effort that demonstrates the power of the tech for good ecosystem.
In just four months, we went from the concept of building a service based on the Microsoft codebase to a live iOs app available to blind and vision-impaired people, providing continuity for those who depend on Soundscape to give them independence and confidence on a daily basis.
