Accessibility Analysis and Mapping at UBC

In a university setting, campus navigation is a foundational part of seizing opportunities, networking with other scholars, and having an all-around positive student experience. Yet, inaccessible features of an urban landscape (like stairs, rough terrain, or steep slopes) often leave mobility-limited individuals at a great disadvantage or cut off from certain opportunities. This project was carried out to explore the ways in which accessibility is lacking on the University of British Columbia, Vancouver campus and to reveal solutions to improve navigation equity. The project centered around the question...

What and where do barriers to wheelchair accessibility exist on the campus and why do they exist there?

The following analysis investigated three questions:

1. Are route distances longer for wheelchair routes than walking routes?
2. Does accessibility improve if one is travelling to a nearby building compared to a building far away?
3. What are the different types of barriers that exist on campus?

Four steps were taken to explore these questions:

Step 1: Two maps were created, one that took into account wheelchair accessibility barriers (things like stairs, steep slopes, rugged terrain) and one that did not factor in wheelchair barriers. When compared against each other, we were able to highlight where accessibility barriers exist on campus and could visually identify and investigate them.

Step 2: The shortest possible path between 10 pairs of source and destination points for both the wheelchair-accessible paths and the wheelchair inaccessible paths were calculated. 

Step 3: A statistical analysis was carried out to compare the wheelchair accessible and walking routes against each other to assess the differences between the two.

Step 4: A visual analysis of the accessibility barriers and a comparison with previous literature helped reveal exactly what barriers exist on the campus and why they exist there.

Study Site:

These four steps were carried out on a 63,000 meter-squared portion of the UBC campus. The chosen study site encompasses several UBC faculties, allowing for many different paths to be calculated from building to building. This high student-traffic area includes major UBC buildings like the Sauder School of Business, the Walter C. Koerner Library, the Buchannan Complex, and the Music Department and Concert Hall.

It was discovered that 90.51% of the UBC path network is accessible and that the remaining 9.48% of the path network is some form of accessibility barriers such as stairs, steep slope, or rugged terrain. When the accessible and inaccessible paths were laid on top of each other it became clear exactly where the accessibility barriers exist.

Three main types of barriers to accessibility were identified. They are: fishbowl barriers, design barriers, and path-door incongruence barriers.

Yes. When comparing accessible and default walking routes it was discovered that the average route distances between two points are significantly longer for wheelchair routes compared to walking routes. 

The biggest difference between accessible and walking routes was a 174-meter difference routing from the Geography building to the Buchanan building. These routes are seen in the map above. There are two major detours that an individual in a wheelchair would need to take when traveling between these two points.

No. The results also show that there is not a significant difference between accessible and inaccessible route distances when comparing long and short routes. This means that the average detour one using a wheelchair would have to make will not differ whether they are going to a nearby building or to a very far away building.

Many types of barriers were found on the campus but the biggest and most common ones were called fishbowl barriers, design barriers, and path-door incongruence barriers. More information about each type can be seen in the maps above.

The most important recommendation for future projects would be that the highest quality road and accessibility feature dataset be used. Insufficient and poor quality data was an unexpected challenge right at the beginning of this project. Thus, I would implore other urban mappers to set aside a considerable amount of time/money at the beginning of their project to make sure that their data is at a high level of detail and is up to date. High detailed data is fundamental to accessibility mapping as poor resolution or low detailed data can easily overgeneralize or brush over paths that actually are accessible paths. This would make any subsequent analysis or created maps inaccurate and far less helpful.

This project began to uncover the components that are needed for equitable wayfinding and effective accessibility mapping across urban landscapes. These components are:

• High quality and up-to-date urban and accessibility-related data
• Constant questioning about where accessibility barriers exist and why they exist there
• More time and resources put into creating equity in urban spaces

The wayfinding map created in this project is only for the study site, a small section of the UBC Vancouver campus. Yet, the hope is that this map and the techniques and recommendations of this project will be used as a roadmap for the creation of a high-functioning and easily updatable accessibility map for the entirety of the UBC campus and for urban landscapes everywhere.