OpenSidewalks Mappy Hours

The Taskar Center for Accessible Technology (TCAT), housed by the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington (the UW), develops, translates, and deploys open source universally accessible technologies, with a focus on benefiting populations with motor limitations or speech impairment.

Additional information can be found on the TCAT website.

The Transportation Data Exchange Initiative (TDEI) is aimed at developing a unified, shared data framework to improve mobility equity, focusing on detailed data about pedestrian networks and travel environments and providing the essential groundwork for future innovations in urban mobility.

Additional information can be found on the TDEI website and the TCAT website.

OpenSidewalks (OSW) is an initiative led by the Taskar Center for Accessible Technology (TCAT) at the University of Washington (UW) which seeks to provide a specification that is not only compatible with OpenStreetMap but is a comprehensive and accessibility-forward specification for mapping sidewalks and related pedestrian infrastructure features.

Additional information can be found on the OpenSidewalks page.

Email: OpenSidewalks Mailing List

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an openly licensed, freely editable geospatial database.

The UW and related initiatives and projects are not "officially" associated with OpenStreetMap, but we are proud to be part of the OSM community, like many other organizations and companies, and we both use OpenStreetMap data in various ways and contribute data back to OpenStreetMap.

Additional information can be found on the OpenStreetMap website and the OpenStreetMap Wiki.

OS-CONNECT is a Washington state-wide pedestrian infrastructure dataset in OSW v0.2 schema, covering 95% of the state's population as well as the densest population centers and transit facilities.

2024_12_19 WA State Proviso last 24 Advisory Meeting slides.

AccessMap (AccessMap.app) is an accessibility-first, multimodal trip planner for non-drivers, bridging gaps by providing detailed information on pedestrian paths, transit stations, elevation changes, curb ramps, and more.

If you'd like us to add a new region to AccessMap, we'd be delighted to hear from you! You can provide either a polygon outlining the region or an administrative boundary from OpenStreetMap (e.g., Seattle).

Next, we will assess the completeness, accuracy, and general validity of the pedestrian mapping for that region in OSM. If the mapping is reasonably accurate and potentially useful for AccessMap users, we would be happy to include it in the application!

Additional information can be found on the TDEI website and OpenSidewalks website.

Email: helpdesk@tdei.us

The SCLIO (Specialized Community-Led Impact Opportunities) Grant mission is to empower communities to leverage the OS-CONNECT dataset to address pedestrian access, transportation equity, and infrastructure challenges. This grant program supports community-driven projects that foster collaboration, produce measurable and scalable outcomes, and create innovative solutions to improve accessibility and equity in transportation infrastructure.

Additional information can be found on the SCLIO website.

Email: uwtcat@uw.edu

Walksheds are maps that describe the accessibility and connectivity of various locations through pathways near the location given certain accessibility constraints.

Walksheds uses a processing algorithm that calculates a "reachable tree" of accessible paths near a certain location.

There are two ways to run Walksheds:

• Through the Walksheds website (walkshed.tdei.us), ideal for quick results on accessibility conditions or finding features that can be updated.
• A script in QGIS that calls the Walksheds API, ideal for customized profiles (sets of parameters) or generating high-quality maps.

• Street avoidance factor (1 = avoid streets, 0 = use streets)
• Maximum uphill and downhill steepness (0 to 15%)
• Avoid raised curbs and stairs (true or false)
• Reverse walkshed (true or false)
• Maximum cost (0 to 3600)

Currently, Walksheds can be run on data sets that cover the major towns and cities within Washington state.

The length and reach of pathways given various accessibility constraints and the number of paths, crossings, curbs, and lowered curbs.

Email: uwtcat@uw.edu