Interface Overview

Interface Overview⚓︎

This section introduces the Walksheds interface, including the sidebar tabs, map controls, and legend.

For a list of all guides on the TCAT Wiki, refer to the Guides List.

Map Overview⚓︎

The Walksheds tool interface consists of two main areas: the sidebar on the left, which contains tabs for dataset selection, walkshed configuration, and other functions; and the map view on the right, which displays the pedestrian network and the calculated walkshed.

Sidebar⚓︎

The left sidebar is the primary control panel for the Walksheds tool. It contains the following tabs:

Main Menu⚓︎

Select the Main Menu button (☰ "hamburger" icon) at the top left of the sidebar to open a panel with the following options:

Reading the Map⚓︎

The walkshed is displayed on the map with all reachable paths (sidewalks, crossings, and other paths) highlighted in blue. Areas excluded by slope limits, obstacle avoidance, or street avoidance settings appear as gaps, reflecting real barriers in the pedestrian environment.

Individual walkways are color-coded by how their incline affects movement speed: flat edges appear blue, moderately inclined edges shift toward pink and orange, and edges that exceed the slope limit appear as red dotted lines. The Incline Bar at the bottom of the screen provides a live reference for this color scale, updating automatically as you adjust steepness preferences.

Map Legend⚓︎

Select the Map Legend button (top right of the map) to open a right sidebar that explains the symbols and colors used on the map. The legend is organized into the following sections:

Movement Speed Due to Incline

Walkways are color-coded by how their incline affects movement speed:

• Blue solid line — High speed (flat)
• Pink solid line — Medium speed (moderate incline)
• Orange solid line — Low speed (steep)
• Red dotted line — Inaccessible

Crossings

• Light gray line — Unmarked crossing
• Striped line — Marked crossing
• Red dotted line — Inaccessible

Stairs

• Black dashed blocks — Accessible
• Red dashed blocks — Inaccessible

Points

Point features (such as curb ramps, signals, and other landmarks) are displayed as small dots on the map.

Walkshed

• Cost Nodes — Network nodes color-coded with their computed travel cost from the origin. The four colors (green, yellow, orange, and red) correspond to isochrones representing quartiles of travel cost from the origin.
• Convex Hull — The outer boundary polygon of the walkshed with color-coded isochrones representing quartiles of travel cost from the origin.

Incline Bar⚓︎

At the very bottom of the screen, a horizontal bar displays a color gradient labeled Speed at incline %. This bar maps incline percentages (from flat to steep) to the colors used on the map, which update in real time based on the currently selected mobility profile's maximum uphill and downhill steepness settings, providing a quick reference for interpreting path colors without opening the full map legend.

Action Pop-up⚓︎

After a walkshed is generated, an action pop-up appears at the bottom of the screen with options to view walkshed information, download results as a GeoJSON file, and save scenarios for later comparison.

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Next: Mobility Profiles and Preferences