Those blister-like bumps, also known as tactile paving, help the visually impaired detect when they are about to leave the sidewalk, enter the street, and vice versa.

pathVu Aims to Make One of the Country’s most “Livable Cities” more Accessible and Inclusive

How pathVu’s data-driven toolbox will empower local government to improve sidewalks and curbs.

PGH Lab is a program through the City of Pittsburgh that gives startups like pathVu an opportunity to test its product in a real-world environment. Startups accepted into the program pair up with a city department or government authority known as City Champions on a 6-month pilot.

Usually, a startup matches with one City Champion, but pathVu is the first PGH Lab cohort to have six! pathVu’s technology has broad application for the City of Pittsburgh and its partners, the Allegheny County Port Authority and Pittsburgh Parking Authority. Our pilot will aggregate sidewalk and curb ramp data to help these stakeholders make informed decisions and better plan infrastructure improvements.

Sample pathMet data near the downtown area of Pittsburgh showing green, yellow, and red lines based on condition, curb ramp locations, and crowdsourced hazards. A pop-up shows the image of a particular 10-foot segment.

pathVu is building a global database of sidewalk and pedestrian pathway data to improve accessibility, mobility, and pedestrian safety. Founded in 2014, pathVu has been awarded numerous projects with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Smart Cities, and municipalities across the country. Our expertise in accessibility comes from our research beginnings at the University of Pittsburgh and Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL).

Our three solutions provide great data while getting it done up to 6x times faster and less expensively than traditional manual collection.

At HERL, we developed our first product, pathMet, an ASTM standard for pathway roughness related to wheelchair user comfort and a route accessibility index for data-driven prioritization and decision making. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, ASTM is an acronym for the American Society for Testing and Materials — this organization develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services.

Hillary Roman, the City of Pittsburgh’s ADA coordinator and one of our City Champions, is interested in obtaining data produced by pathMet. She works with architects, developers, businesses, and property owners to implement universal design that prevents discrimination against individuals with disabilities and promotes inclusivity.

pathVu collecting sidewalk data along the Allegheny River.

How pathVu technology works

pathMet resembles a baby carriage, but instead of a human, it carries high-resolution cameras, lasers, and sensors to measure ADA compliance of sidewalks. Our engineering-grade technology characterizes the quality of sidewalks, identifies accessibility concerns, and creates GIS maps of the resulting data. During the pilot, we will utilize our toolbox of three data collection solutions in addition to pathMet, including:

• curbMet — pathVu’s proprietary tool for data collection of curb ramps. (Developed in partnership with the engineering professionals at PennDOT)
• pathCollect — a mobile app that uses AI to quickly and easily detect sidewalk hazards from smartphone imagery. (Developed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Software Engineering program.)

Our three solutions provide great data while getting it done up to 6x times faster and less expensively than traditional manual collection. All the data will be implemented into a GIS database and displayed through a map. We will compare each of the three datasets with existing city data available. Essentially, the goal of the pilot is to help our City Champions use the data to make informed decisions that lead to effective service improvements and equitable outcomes for pedestrians.

Sample project sidewalk data in the downtown area of Pittsburgh. Green dots show curb ramp locations. Purple dots show areas without sidewalks. Other colored dots show varied hazards.

Want to help? Download our crowdsourcing app that allows smartphone users to capture locations and pictures of sidewalk conditions that you pass by every day. Available on iOS and Android.