Decentralized, Public, and Mobile-Based Sidewalk Inventory Tool

Knowledge Based Systems, Inc. (KBSI) is pleased to propose the further design and development of “MySidewalk,” a mobile application facilitating the crowd-sourced collection of sidewalk inventory and condition data. MySidewalk utilizes advances in social networks, mobile data collection, and data mining to provide integrated sidewalk datasets. Phase I demonstrated the feasibility of the concept through a proof-of-concept prototype. Phase I research was facilitated by significant inputs from our partners City of College Station, Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), and Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). Important functionality supported by MySidewalk are an integrated view of sidewalk GIS data, pedestrian–networks gap analysis, pedestrian usage of non-sidewalk paths, support for capital improvement program planning, audit and maintenance of sidewalk accessibility issues, and public inputs into sidewalk infrastructure prioritizing. MySidewalk provides critical data and analysis infrastructure to local, state, and federal entities allowing them to better manage and maintain sidewalk networks. MySidewalk provides the foundation for future capabilities such as the analysis of pedestrian usage patterns and factors influencing demand. Phase II will improve the MySidewalk user interface and features, beta test a pilot implementation, and prepare to take the application to market.