Skip to content
People and News

OpenThePaths: Non-ableist AI for sidewalk accessibility

March 9, 2026

If you drive, you’ve probably used route-finding apps with reasonable success. But these tools do not take into consideration people with mobility challenges who need information about sidewalks, not roads. Washington State’s first map of pedestrian infrastructure, OS-CONNECT, was a main topic at the recent OpenThePaths Conference. Organized by CREATE associate director Anat Caspi, conference attendees included policymakers, city planners, disability advocates, and technology professionals.

Caspi is an affiliate assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering and directs the UW Taskar Center for Accessible Technology at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.

Anat Caspi: A white woman smiling into the camera. She is wearing a purple blouse.

A vision for single-source data for the pedestrian realm

The goal of Caspi, OpenThePaths, and OS-CONNECT is to have accurate, updated, and usable data so that people with different mobility challenges can find routes that work for them and allow transportation officials to fix what isn’t working.

  • Where are there sidewalks and are there ramps?
  • Where are street crossing points?
  • Are there steep hills or construction projects that obstruct access?
  • Can transit be accessed without stairs and other obstacles?

Data comes from a variety of sources, some that don’t normally share data such as aerial imagery, street cameras, and construction contractors, and is used by AI to create a real-time map. Caspi, whose research specialty is the ethical use of AI, underscored that humans vet all information and will continue to vet and maintain the data shared.

Diagram of a city streetscape showing a satellite, drones, street camera, vehicles equipped with cameras, and maintenance workers recording data. At the center is a stewardship loop with humans, including one using a wheelchair, viewing sidewalk data.
Diagram, produced by TCAT, showing data sources, human vetting and maintenance of AI content to bring sidewalk experience into data design and planning decisions.

Caspi acknowledged the many institutional barriers that prevent policymakers from “really subscribing to that shared vision and open shared data that supports non-drivers.”

“That will teach you a lot about how our system works and doesn’t work,” she noted.

Learn more

In a recent podcast, What It Would Take to Map Every Sidewalk in Your State, Caspi spoke about the need for and reach of OS-CONNECT and the conference. She also shared how her late daughter, Aviv, helped inspire her work, the tool named in Aviv’s honor, and the importance of ethical, human-centered, and anti-ableist AI.

More resources: