Pedestrian map routing

University of Maryland has done it again. I pointed them out back in September 2008 for the high quality of their campus map in OpenStreetMap, but there is more going on than just active local surveyors. They have their own map server now.

The SE@M , led by Dr. James Purtilo, has built a map with a pedestrian router.

Their router will show the most direct route without steps.

And allows selecting routes with curb ramps and without steep inclines.

What a wonderful project and a wonderful use of the OpenStreetMap tools and data. I hope that Dr. Purtilo and his students will participate actively with the OpenStreetMap community and announce their next release when it is ready. They should not be hiding their success!

I, for one, would love to see them deliver a paper on their project at State of the Map this year.

Bravo, UMD.

Photo credit, cc-by-nc Honza Soukup