Wheelchairs serve as an ideal proxy for assessing the accessibility of footpaths for other wheeled vehicles like e-scooters, mobility scooters, strollers, walkers and delivery robots.
User-Centric Assessors
Accessing all areas
Our mapping team comprises not just qualified field surveyors, but also wheelchair users trained in the skill of footpath mapping. With their chair-mounted Briometrix technology and ability to access all areas, we call this team of invaluable data-collectors …
Our Wheelchair Pilots
Wheelchair users are the most demanding users of the footpath networks from a physical impact perspective. They are considered lead users – people who deal intensively with a problem in a special scope for which there is no suitable solution existing on the market.
We like to think of a wheelchair as the Google car of footpath networks.
Our Wheelchair Pilots provide mobility insights that might not be immediately evident to public infrastructure, transport and assets professionals.
What are the benefits of utilising wheelchair pilots?
Far from just ticking a diversity box, we engage the first-hand mobility experience of our wheelchair pilots for the following very specific reasons:
VIDEO
A word from Martin Heng, Chairman IDEAS, Member Victorian Disability
Advisory Council, Board European Network Accessible Tourism
and Brio Wheelchair Pilot.
Wheelchairs are particularly sensitive to sharp angles into kerbs, often turning them into significant obstacles.
Wheelchairs, particularly manual ones, offer little to no suspension, making the user more sensitive to surface imperfections in the footpath.
Wheelchairs capture data such as surface texture, slope angles, roughness/vibration significantly improving the efficiency and outcomes of footpath surveys.
Wheelchairs are very manoeuvrable with a small footprint and tight turning circle.
Highlight areas where functionality can be improved for a more seamless user experience and reveal additional challenges not explicitly covered by compliance regulations.
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We assess the physical exertion required to navigate different paths. This ‘Effort rating’ data provides engineers with a direct measure of how users experience the footpath infrastructure.
Wheelchairs require no permit to travel along all types of footpaths, pathways and trails without disturbance to the public.
