Pedestrian Planning Portal

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the greater Philadelphia region, encompassing nine counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We helped the DVRPC implement an innovative project to create a contiguous pedestrian facility dataset including sidewalks, crosswalk, and curb ramps for the entire region. 

We designed and developed an online Pedestrian Planning Portal with tools that inform and engage the public, allow online editing of the pedestrian facility data (existing conditions), and allow collaborative regional and local project planning.

Included in the platform is a simple web map interface for users to easily add, edit and validate sidewalks, crosswalks, and curb ramps across the MPO region. Another mapping interface leverages our Participatory Mapping tools that allow regional planners to create project areas and pose new ideas by sketching on a web map, then share their ideas with others.

With our partners at MIG, we created a public engagement strategy and held outreach efforts including onsite meeting, webinars, surveys, pilot groups, and user training and education.

Editing GIS datasets typically requires specialized GIS analysts using desktop software and complex processes. To complete and refine a pedestrian network this large requires input from people with neighborhood-level knowledge in every jurisdiction. Our solution uses a simple, intuitive online workflow that allows anyone to easily find areas of interest on the map, inspect existing features, and edit attributes or add missing sidewalks, ramps, or crosswalks. This enables users from jurisdictions throughout the region who have local knowledge to contribute to improving and completing these large datasets.