Research Project
Sidewalk Accessibility Tools
Crowd+AI tools to map, analyze, and visualize sidewalk accessibility for inclusive cities
- Principal Investigator
- Eisenberg, Yochai
- Co-Principal Investigator
- Labbé, Delphine
- Start Date
- 2021-10-01
- End Date
- 2025-09-30
- Research Area(s)
- Active Projects
- Aging
- Community Living
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Data Visualization
- DHD Research
- Disability
- Participation Among People with Disabilities
- Co-Investigators
- Hammel, Joy
- Funding Source
- NSF Smart and Connected Cities Grant
Abstract
Our proposal aims to (1) advance understanding of stakeholder needs and opportunities for socio-technical tools to assess and plan for accessible sidewalks; (2) develop and evaluate sidewalk data collection and assessment techniques that combine crowdsourcing and artificial intelligence (crowd+AI) methods to improve scalability, reliability, and better support diverse stakeholder needs; and (3) develop and evaluate a suite of open-source urban accessibility analysis and visualization tools.
To address these aims, we have partnered with key governmental and community organizations in the Chicago region that guide sidewalk accessibility planning and implementation—including the Regional Transportation Authority, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Metropolitan Planning Council, and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, as well as disability organizations such as Easterseals, leading disability advocacy non-profit. Throughout our design, development, and evaluation work, we will involve these diverse stakeholders using focus groups, interviews, usability studies, and other human-centered design methods.
Project website - https://accessiblecommunities.org
Project Sidewalk tool - https://sidewalk-chicago.cs.washington.edu/