More bike-friendly open data goodness from UBC

From the same people who brought you the Vancouver cycling route planner… some nifty visualizations measuring the ‘bikeability’ of the city. Uh, what?

We created a bikeability index, based on five components identified in the Cycling in Cities opinion survey as important to cyclists, then explored in focus groups and validated by travel behaviours. These components are:

bicycle route density
bicycle route separation
connectivity of bicycle-friendly streets
topography
destination density

We used the index to create bikeability maps that identify areas more and less conducive to cycling, using Metro Vancouver as a case study (see below). The large map is based on the overall bikeability index scores, and the smaller ones are based on the scores for the five components. Together these can be used to guide local strategies to improve cycling conditions.

What’s next?

…we will develop an interactive online bikeability tool for 10 additional Canadian cities: Victoria, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, and St John’s. The tool will highlight the environmental factors important to cyclists, and can be used by municipal and transportation planners to optimally locate bicycling infrastructure in areas that are currently underserved.

We will also assess the feasibility of developing the tool to allow other municipalities in Canada (and elsewhere) to upload open-access data and convert it into a bikeability map – an online bikeability engine.

Essentially, a two-wheeled equivalent of tools that allow you to determine the walkscore of your neighbourhood. Not factoring in what the weather is like in these cities, but I suppose that is a bit much to expect.

Via an article in my morning paper.

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