Radian | Placematters partnered with WalkDenver, a local pedestrian advocacy group, to develop WALKscope, an online tool for crowdsourcing data about walkability. Community members can access the tool via smartphones, tablets, and computers to report pedestrian amenities and conditions, and pedestrian counts. WalkDenver is using the tool to engage Denver residents in a dialogue about walkability, and to collect the data they need to advocate for pedestrian infrastructure improvements.

Radian | Placematters and WalkDenver officially launched WALKscope in February of 2014. We are working together to evaluate the tool’s effectiveness at:

• Providing an easy, intuitive interface for community members to submit data and information related to active transportation
• Generating a large amount of data about active transportation at a relatively low cost
• Generating high quality data that is relevant and useful for decision-makers who are interested in creating more walkable communities
• Supporting a community dialogue about active transportation
• Demonstrating the benefits of active transportation
• Empowering community members to advocate for the changes needed to make their neighborhoods more livable

We anticipate refining WALKscope and related public engagement efforts based on this assessment. Radian | Placematters will also work with WalkDenver to analyze the data collected via WALKscope, and create compelling visualizations that identify high quality pedestrian environments and places needing improvement.

The development of WALKscope was funded by a grant from Mile High Connects.