Recent News

Sep 30, 2019 | Manaswi
Makeability Lab member Manaswi Saha was an invited keynote speaker to the Washingtion State Ridesharing Organization (WSRO) conference. She gave a talk on Project Sidewalk entitled Project Sidewalk: Mapping the accessibility of the physical world at scale using interactive computational tools. Congrats Manaswi and thanks for representing the Project Sidewalk team.

Apr 30, 2019 | Manaswi
With the recent Seattle and Newberg launch of Project Sidewalk, we have been getting a lot of media attention. Here are a few articles so far (many more to come!): Newberg streets second in nation to be studied with new accessibility metric (The Newberg Graphic, April 2019) Seattle's got terrible sidewalks. You can help fix them. (Crosscut, April 2019)

Feb 08, 2017 | Manaswi
Transportation Techies DC had hosted their second WalkHackNight in Crystal City. Project Sidewalk team was honored to be invited to give a talk at this event. It is the second time for Project Sidewalk to be presenting at this event.

Nov 17, 2016 | Manaswi
Project Sidewalk was covered by a DC TV station, WUSA9. Check out the video coverage and the news report now! This is exciting!
We were honored to participate in the inaugural Diversity in Computing Summit. Makeability Lab and Inclusive Design Lab members presented a joint session on their accessibility research. The session, entitled "Interactive Computational Tools for Accessibility," covered work on Project Sidewalk (by Manaswi Saha), Temporal Tracking of Accessibility Features in Cities (by Ladan Najafizadeh) , Health and Fitness for the Mobility Impaired (by Meethu Malu), Accessible On-body Interaction for the Visually Impaired (by Uran Oh) and HandSight (by Lee Stearns). Talk slides are available here.
Projects
Publications
The Future of Urban Accessibility for People with Disabilities: Data Collection, Analytics, Policy, and Tools
Extended Abstract ASSETS'22 Workshop on The Future of Urban Accessibility
PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • Urban Accessibility Evolution • Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment • Accessibility-Infused Maps
Visualizing Urban Accessibility: Investigating Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives through a Map-based Design Probe Study
Proceedings of CHI 2022
PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • AccessVis • Accessibility-Infused Maps
The Future of Global-Scale Spatial Data Collection and Analyses on Urban (in)Accessibility for People with Disabilities
Extended Abstract Spatial Data Science Symposium 2021
PDF | Citation | Project Sidewalk • Urban Accessibility Evolution • Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment • AccessVis • Accessibility-Infused Maps • Sidewalk Gallery
Urban Accessibility as a Socio-Political Problem: A Multi-Stakeholder Analysis
CSCW 2020
PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk
Towards Mapping and Assessing Sidewalk Accessibility Across Socio-cultural and Geographic Contexts
Extended Abstract Data4Good
PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk
Interactive Computational Tools for Assessing and Understanding Urban Accessibility At Scale
SIGACCESS Newsletter 2020
PDF | Citation | Project Sidewalk • AccessVis • Accessibility-Infused Maps
Project Sidewalk: A Web-based Crowdsourcing Tool for Collecting Sidewalk Accessibility Data at Scale
Proceedings of CHI 2019 | Acceptance Rate: 23.8% (705 / 2960) | Best Paper Award
PDF | doi | Citation | Code | Project Sidewalk
Interactively Modeling and Visualizing Neighborhood Accessibility at Scale: An Initial Study of Washington DC
Extended Abstract Proceedings of ASSETS 2018
PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk • Accessibility-Infused Maps • AccessVis
A Pilot Deployment of an Online Tool for Large-Scale Virtual Auditing of Urban Accessibility
Extended Abstract Proceedings of ASSETS 2017
PDF | doi | Citation | Project Sidewalk
Exploring Novice Approaches to Smartphone-based Thermographic Energy Auditing: A Field Study
Proceedings of CHI 2017 | Acceptance Rate: 25.0% (606 / 2424)
PDF | doi | Citation | Talk | Pervasive Thermography
The Future Role of Thermography in Human-Building Interaction
CHI 2016 Workshop: Future of Human-Building Interaction
Talks
May 28, 2021 | PhD Generals Exam
Virtual
PDF | Accessibility-Infused Maps | Project Sidewalk | AccessVis
Jan. 22, 2020 | Google Tech Talk
Seattle, WA
PDF | PPTX | Project Sidewalk | Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment | AccessVis | Accessibility-Infused Maps | Urban Accessibility Evolution | Transportation Analytics
Sept. 30, 2019 | WSRO 2019 Keynote
Spokane, WA
PDF | PPTX | Project Sidewalk
May 7, 2019 | CHI'19
Glasgow, UK
PDF | PPTX | Project Sidewalk
Nov. 15, 2017 | UW CSE Affiliates 2017
Seattle, WA
May 25, 2017 | HCIL Symposium 2017
College Park, Maryland
Feb. 8, 2017 | WalkHackNight II
Arlington, Virginia
Nov. 7, 2016 | Diversity in Computing Summit 2016
College Park, Maryland
Nov. 3, 2016 | Technica: Tech+X Talk Series
University of Maryland, College Park