Volunteer-built app maps step-free routes for wheelchair users

A free app built by volunteers is helping wheelchair users and people with pushchairs find their way around Wrenhaven without running into steps, high kerbs or steep slopes. Level Way, launched this month, plans walking and wheeling routes across the city centre using data collected street by street by more than 300 volunteers.

The idea came from Kerrie Maddox, a software developer who uses a wheelchair and was frustrated by mapping apps that suggested routes she could not use. "An ordinary map tells you the shortest way. It does not tell you that the shortest way has a flight of steps halfway along," she said. She posted a call for help on a community noticeboard and was surprised by the response.

Over eighteen months, volunteers walked more than 400 kilometres of pavement with a measuring wheel and a simple slope gauge, logging dropped kerbs, ramps, narrow pavements and cobbles. Students from the University of Wrenhaven helped write the routing software, and the app's code has been published openly so that other towns can adapt it.

For the first time I can plan a trip to somewhere new without phoning ahead to ask if I will be able to get in.

Help from the council

The city council has started using the survey data to prioritise repairs. Officers say it has identified 140 places where a dropped kerb is missing or damaged, and 35 have already been fixed. Users can also report problems directly from the app, such as broken lifts at tram stops or roadworks blocking a pavement.

The app currently covers the city centre, Old Quay and Harbourside. Ms Maddox hopes to add Northfield and Millbrook next year, and is looking for more volunteers to help with surveys. The project is run without advertising and is funded by small grants and donations, which pay for hosting and the measuring equipment.