WalkRollMap.org: Crowdsourcing barriers to mobility.
Karen Laberee, Trisalyn Nelson, Darren Boss and 5 others
PMID 37009401WHAT IT FOUND
Community reports on a new mapping tool identified missing sidewalks, fast vehicles, and absent crosswalks as the top barriers to walking.
Most reports came from the pilot region, with underrepresentation of Indigenous and East Asian people.
Key findings
01The most commonly reported barriers were missing sidewalks, uncomfortable vehicle speeds, and missing marked crosswalks.
02Of 897 global reports, 640 came from the pilot region in British Columbia, with the remainder from other North American cities, Australia, and Europe.
03Indigenous and East Asian people were underrepresented in the report data compared to census figures for the pilot region.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study reports preliminary data from a specific pilot region, so findings may not generalize to other cities or countries. Crowdsourced data is self-selected and prone to representation bias, as seen in the underrepresentation of Indigenous and East Asian populations. The paper describes the tool and reports descriptive statistics but does not evaluate the effectiveness of the platform in changing policy or improving outcomes. Many minor injuries and collisions are not reported, limiting the completeness of incident data.
Declared interests
Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. No other conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high volume of reports for specific hazards as evidence that the tool successfully reduced those hazards or changed municipal policy. The data reflects who reported issues, not necessarily the total number of issues or the impact of the intervention.