Central London is already mapped to a high level of detail (not astonishing given that OSM originates from UCL!), so we decided to focus on a much neglected topic, ie wheelchair accessibility mapping. Wheelmap.org, a relatively new initiative to highlight wheelchair accessible places, made it painfully obvious that almost no accessibility mapping had been done so far in and around UCL!

Catherine Holloway, a wheelchair accessibility specialist from our department, gave a great overview of relevant attributes to map, and even brought along a couple of wheelchairs for the students to sit in! Two of the student groups experienced the difficulties when trying to move about in a wheelchair, hitting obstacles, bad dropped kerbs and rough surfaces, a valuable insight into the very specific mobility problems of London’s wheelchair users.
The mapping party was also kindly supported by members of the OSM community, ie. Gianfranco,  Derick Rethans, and Alex who shadowed groups and supported them.

The first day was taken up with data collection, and the weather god(s) were very kind to us, with atypically warm and sunny weather for this time of the year, ideal to explore the different areas around UCL’s main campus. We subdivided the area into map slices, and 4 groups went off to collect data, each group recording their progress on walkingpapers print outs. After some initial confusion over what to capture, the groups soon got to grips with the task and went their separate ways to record: if shops and building entrances have step free access and if the toilets are wheelchair accessible; where dropped kerbs are; as well as pavement quality and minimum widths.

My group did south of UCL around Tottenham Court Road, and sadly we found a whole row of shops not wheelchair accessible in Store Street (see photo above). I must say that I was shocked by the number of businesses, pubs and buildings which today are still not wheelchair accessible, just in the very small area we mapped around UCL. After a productive two hours of mapping, we reconvened at the Department, to go for a well deserved pint of beer in the Jeremy Bentham pub (an essential part of any proper mapping party!).

On day 2, the students sat down to add their collected data to OSM, using Potlatch2. Andy Allan, one of the lead developers of Potlatch2, joined us for the lab session to support the students, but also importantly to experience how first time editors of OSM are using his software. In parallel, I setup screen recording software to gather new data on first time users interactions with OSM’s editing tools, in this case Potlatch2, in continuation of earlier work done in usability analysis, reported here before. Apart from some of the previously discussed problems in the usability of Potlatch2, of which Andy took keen notice and I am sure he will report back on as well, the students got on well with the editing. Soon the first changesets appeared on OSM, and the first tagged shops were updated as well on wheelmap.org. Some students even managed to finish early, taking the opportunity to edit and add information around their homes.

The results of the mapping party can be seen in the changesets generated by the students, as well as the numerous classified shops and amenities along Tottenham Court Road and its sidestreets, visible in wheelmap.org, where before there was just a sea of grey unclassified Points of Interest.

You can see the rest of the pictures in my Flickr feed!

Through lucky timing, I have been able to take on two jobs within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering here at UCL:

• I have now started work as a Teaching Fellow in the Department, working closely together with Dr Muki Haklay. This role involves the complete spectrum of tasks and responsibilities of a lecturer, taking over the running of the Research Methods for Engineers Msc module, tutorials and practicals in the undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, the supervision of Msc and PhD students, as well as participating in several research projects, including the Mapping for Change social entreprise.
• I will also soon start work as the principal research fellow for the JISC funded G3 project (check out our blog!). This project is creating an interactive online mapping system to teach geographic concepts in a user friendly manner to new learners from outside the world of geography and GIS. Users will also be introduced geographic data relevant to their particular discipline and know where to look for more. This is an exciting project where I will be focusing on the technical development of both the server and client-side environment.

Apart from my activities as a Teaching and Research Fellow at UCL, I am also investigating in paralell the commercialisation of my EngD research outputs, in close partnership with Bone Wells Urbecon, a economic development consultancy. The business potential of my research lies in improved data & methods for the characterisation of town centres and other business areas, to improve business location decision-making, and sustain local economic development.

… ‘Extreme Citizen Science’ (ExCiteS) research group. The group’s activities focus on the theory, methodologies, techniques and tools that are needed to allow any community to start its own bottom-up citizen science activity, regardless of the level of literacy of the users. Importantly, Citizen Science is understood in the widest sense, including perceptions and views – so participatory mapping and participatory geographic information are integral parts of the activities.

more information at the original post on Muki’s blog: A postdoctoral position and 3 PhD studentships in Extreme Citizen Science « Po Ve Sham – Muki Haklay’s personal blog.