UnlockedMaps: A Web-Based Map for Visualizing the Real-Time Accessibility of Urban Rail Transit Stations
Ather Sharif, Aneesha Ramesh, Qianqian Yu, Trung-Anh H. Nguyen, Xuhai Xu · 2023 · Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A) · doi:10.1145/3587281.3587283
Summary
This paper presents UnlockedMaps, an open-data web-based map that visualizes the real-time elevator status of urban rail transit stations in six North American cities: Bay Area, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Toronto. The work addresses a critical gap in existing mapping solutions like Google Maps, which do not display real-time or historical elevator outage information — a significant barrier for the 13.7% of the U.S. population who rely on functioning elevators to access transit stations, including wheelchair users, pregnant people, cyclists and stroller users, and people carrying heavy equipment. The research began with a formative study interviewing representatives from five stakeholder groups to understand their commuting experiences and the impact of elevator outages. Participants described discovering outages only upon arrival at stations, being forced to take expensive alternative transportation, and experiencing emotional frustration. Motivated by these findings, the team developed UnlockedMaps using a user-centered iterative design process with Wizard-of-Oz studies. The system architecture consists of a data scraping module that collects elevator outage data hourly and station data quarterly from transit authority websites, a PostgreSQL database, a Node.js/GraphQL API, and a React frontend using OpenStreetMap. Over 28 months, the system collected 1,766,392 records from 2,336 transit stations. The platform color-codes stations as green (accessible), orange (experiencing outage), or red (not accessible), and also displays nearby accessible restaurants (via Yelp API) and restrooms (via Refuge Restrooms API).
Key findings
Three evaluation studies demonstrated UnlockedMaps's effectiveness. A user study with 34 participants across all five stakeholder groups found high perceived performance (M=4.4/7), low frustration (M=4.0/7), and low temporal demand (M=5.0/7) on NASA-TLX measures. The most-used feature was filtering by wheelchair accessible stations (32.1% in controlled study, 47.6% in the wild). An 11-day controlled longitudinal study with 5 participants and a 14-day "in the wild" study with 44 participants confirmed sustained engagement. Qualitative analysis revealed four themes: (1) UnlockedMaps benefits all stakeholder groups, including those who do not rely on elevators; (2) transparency into elevator outage data is crucial for accountability; (3) participants valued the central focus on accessibility as the primary design principle; and (4) features extending beyond transit stations (accessible restaurants and restrooms) added significant value. Participants particularly appreciated how UnlockedMaps puts accessibility first, unlike mainstream mapping tools where it is an afterthought. Suggested improvements included developing a mobile app with push notifications and adding more station details like photos.
Relevance
UnlockedMaps makes a compelling case for open data as a tool for accessibility advocacy and accountability. By collecting and publicly releasing historical elevator outage data — something no transit authority provides — the platform enables disability advocates and civic hackers to hold transit authorities accountable for maintenance patterns. The finding that the tool benefits all stakeholder groups, not just wheelchair users, reinforces universal design principles. For practitioners, the work demonstrates that accessibility-first design can serve a broader user base than initially targeted. The open API makes the data available for social scientists, urban planners, and policymakers to analyze transit equity issues. The project also highlights infrastructure-level accessibility barriers that no amount of web accessibility compliance can solve — physical elevator reliability remains a fundamental gatekeeper for transit access.
Tags: transit accessibility · urban accessibility · open data · web-based maps · elevator outages · wheelchair accessibility · mobility disability · civic hacking · participatory design
Standards referenced: WCAG 2.1 · ADA