Since the release of the Working Draft of the Wayfindr Open Standard, we have had a great response from the Wayfindr Community, which has grown significantly since we launched. We are now working towards the next iteration – a more mature version of the Open Standard.

The Working Draft helped to set the base of discussion within our Community, which are helping us to form the Candidate Recommendation. This is a document that has been reviewed by experts in their field and assessed to see where improvements can be made, or more information added and explored.

In the future, the Candidate Recommendation will lead to the Recommendation document – this is a document that holds wide consensus within the Community after public feedback has been incorporated. The Recommendation document is considered to be the complete version of the Open Standard.

In order to progress the Open Standard, we need to increase the breadth and depth of the Working Draft. In order to do this, we have formed a prototype working group – focused on transport – consisting of representatives from organisations that are part of the Wayfindr Community. We are focusing on transport first because we know that it delivers the most value to the end users –  people need to be able to use different transport to reach their destination independently.

Once people are able to travel, easily and independently, then we can start to think about how the Wayfindr Open Standard could apply in other built environments e.g. shopping centres, hospitals, sports stadiums.

Our prototype working group is made up of members of the transport and vision impairment community, as well as the public sector. As this is the first working group we have run, it will allow us to understand how the process works and what resources we will need for any future working groups. We are overseeing the working group, ensuring the quality of feedback and keeping members to deadlines.

The working group will review the Open Standard and identify areas that can be improved, or strengthened. In order for the suggestions to be incorporated into the Open Standard the working group must reach a majority consensus. Once consensus has been reached the Open Standard will be updated with the new information. It will then be made available online, this is so that members of the public can review it and give their own feedback, this is in accordance with the policy of an Open Standard.

The Open Standard will be available for review on our website – for eight weeks. Anyone can access the Open Standard and give their own feedback. When the eight weeks are up, if there aren’t any additional comments then we will be able to move ahead and release the Recommendation. If there are more comments, or feedback then we will take them away and use the same process as above to update the Open Standard.

We will keep everyone updated via our Social channels and our newsletter. If you have any questions about any part of this process then you can get in touch with us here.