Obstacle Characterization in a Geocrowdsourced Accessibility System

Abstract

Commission II, WG II/4KEY WORDS: Transitory Obstacles, Accessibility, Geocrowdsourcing, Data Quality, Semantics ABSTRACT:Transitory obstacles -random, short-lived and unpredictable objects -are difficult to capture in any traditional mapping system, yet they have significant negative impacts on the accessibility of mobility-and visually-impaired individuals. These transitory obstacles include sidewalk obstructions, construction detours, and poor surface conditions. To identify these obstacles and assist the navigation of mobility-and visually-impaired individuals, crowdsourced mapping applications have been developed to harvest and analyze the volunteered obstacles reports from local students, faculty, staff, and residents. In this paper, we introduce a training program designed and implemented for recruiting and motivating contributors to participate in our geocrowdsourced accessibility system, and explore the quality of geocrowdsourced data with a comparative analysis methodology.