Mining data about the natural and built environment in locations to assist people with disabilities to better plan their journey and empower them to make more informed choice about where they choose to access services due to the available accessibility supports.
The NDIS is a once in a generational investment by the Australian Government in to the disability services sector. Globally over a billion people identify as having a disability. Many of them are shut out of public places and building due to inaccessible entrances, parking trails that make it difficult for people with a disability to navigate. In accessibility reduces mobility and participation by a at least 20% of the Australian population as 4.2million people in Australia identify as having a disability.
Data about the built and natural environment can be used to provide people with a disability with the information they require to make more informed choices about their transport journeys. We want our clients to be able to access information about the accessibility features at their destination so that they can know where the accessible ramps are available if they are any available. We want to use the data about the built environment and public spaces and information about tracks and parks and hiking trails in common places to be able to empower people with a disability to make informed choices which will assist them with participating in social and recreational activities.
There is no online platform that allows people with a disability to easily access the information they require about the built and natural environment so they can know if they will be able to drive their power wheelchairs on the track or if the building they are going to has adequate access, if the isles are wide enough.
Unfortunately data on buildings and public spaces is currently not digitised in a format that would make it easily accessible for use in the journey planning application. The information we accessed was not able to be utilised easily without further manipulation to be incorporated into the application. Further work is required using city planning data and using information that is publicly available through Google Maps and other GIS platforms to be able to incorporate information effectively.
