Project Resources
- OpenSidewalks Training Material
- Urban Changemakers Toolkit: Storytelling and Data Science
- Disability Justice for Urban Planners- Conversation Cards
- Calculating Walksheds tool
- Explore Personalized Routing with OpenSidewalks Data
News
Engineering sidewalk data equity
March 7, 2022, The Trend in Engineering, UW College of Engineering
“Sidewalks are at the heart of every community,” says Anat Caspi, director of the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “They represent the fabric that connects all other modes of transportation, any access to recreation, to financial opportunities, to schools, to health opportunities.”
Yet the digital maps and transportation apps that have revolutionized urban navigation over the last two decades contain little information about sidewalks or other pedestrian infrastructure. That poses a particular problem for people with mobility-limiting disabilities, for whom a cracked or uneven sidewalk or a missing curb ramp can be an insurmountable barrier.
TDEI aims to develop data standards for three elements of the transportation system: sidewalks (that is, it represents the next iteration of OpenSidewalks); navigating transit centers; and paratransit, which includes on-demand shuttles and community transit on Native American reservations. The initiative will refine and help gain adoption of international data standards in all three areas, as well as develop procedures to collect, store, update and publish these data as a feed.
Webinar presenting TDEI concept of operations
SAVE THE DATE: The University of Washington will present its TDEI concept of operations (ConOps) on Monday, July 26, 2021, from 10:30 to Noon PDT.
Register here: https://its4usconopswebinar-uw.eventbrite.com
The ITS JPO is hosting a set of five free public webinars to allow all of its five deployment sites to publicly share their concept of operations (ConOps), which are being developed as part of Phase 1. Each webinar will be held from 1:30 to 3:00 PM EDT and will feature a different site.
The Transportation Data Equity Initiative: working to improve mobility for everyone
July 2021, Generations Today, American Society on Aging
Older adults, people with disabilities and other populations are poorly served by modern map applications because these phone and web apps do not contain or account for key pieces of information about sidewalks, travel environments and community transportation options.
The Transportation Data Equity Initiative (TDEI), a project supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s ITS4US program and led by the University of Washington’s Taskar Center for Accessible Technology (TCAT), is developing ways to collect, validate and disseminate travel data to use in applications that will help people of all abilities to plan trips more easily—particularly older adults, veterans and travelers with disabilities.
$11.45 million federal grant will develop transit, mobility tech for underserved groups
January 27, 2021, UW News
For many, moving around is easier thanks to technology. Tools like Google Directions and OneBusAway give up-to-date travel and transit information, making unplanned, serendipitous travel seamless and convenient.
But not everybody has benefitted. Mobility applications focus on efficiency and finding the shortest paths, leaving out information critical to people with disabilities, older adults and anybody needing more support.
Now, the University of Washington is leading a team working toward a solution. Two UW centers, together with Microsoft, Google, Washington Department of Transportation and other public and private partners, are collaborating on the Transportation Data Equity Initiative.
U.S. Department of Transportation announces awards for innovative technologies to improve transportation mobility and access for persons with disabilities
January 6, 2021, U.S. Department of Transportation
The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded over $38 million to five projects through its Complete Trip – ITS4US Deployment Program. The projects will enable communities to showcase innovative business partnerships, technologies, and practices that promote independent mobility for all. The three-phased effort brings together public-sponsored and private-sponsored research. It also will create large-scale, replicable deployments that generate increased mobility options across multiple modes of transportation to address the challenges of planning and executing complete trips.