As footpath.ai marks its third anniversary, we're not just celebrating another year passed; we're celebrating growth, achievement, and the relentless dedication of our team and community. Founded by Dr. Tanapon Lilasathapornkit and Dr. Meead Saberi in April 2021, footpath.ai began as a spark of inspiration from their initial student-supervisor relationship at UNSW. What started as a shared academic curiosity and passion for pedestrian networks quickly evolved into a dynamic co-founder relationship and the birth of footpath.ai, supported by the UNSW Founders through the 10x Accelerator program.

In just three years, our team has expanded from a humble duo to a dynamic group of 11 individuals. What's more, our team is a testament to diversity, with members hailing from 6 different countries. This diverse blend of backgrounds, cultures, and expertise fuels our innovation and strengthens our global perspective and vision.

Mapping Milestones

Our journey has been defined by milestones, from the collection of more than 80,000 street-level images spanning the globe, a distance equivalent to nearly 500 km of sidewalks, in 12 major cities across 8 different countries. Since the launch of our map browser in July 2023, the platform has seen steady growth in the number of registered users, empowering individuals worldwide to benefit from our map data and contribute to our mission. With 13,000 views on the footpath.ai map browser platform over the past 12 months and nearly 1,500 followers on LinkedIn, our reach continues to grow, amplifying our impact and fostering engagement within the community.

Partnerships and Collaborations

We're proud to have collaborated with several state and local governments, including the NSW government, the City of Sydney, and the Kiama municipal council. Our partnerships with UNSW, KAIST, and Mapillary have further amplified our impact, enabling us to map pedestrian infrastructure with unparalleled precision and efficiency.

Innovation and Impact

Through our participation in programs like the AWS Activate and Nvidia Inception, we've leveraged cutting-edge technology to enhance our AI models, driving innovation in pedestrian infrastructure mapping. From our first-ever 360-degree image captured on the UNSW campus to our expansion into major cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth in Australia as well as San Francisco, London, Seoul, Doha, and Delhi, our journey is marked by innovation and progress.

Our very first experiment for the automatic detection of sidewalks involved training and testing a U-NET semantic segmentation model with a binary mask using only 100 labeled 360-degree images that achieved 95%+ accuracy. We later developed our propriety DeepWalk™ AI stack that includes a more sophisticated visual semantic segmentation, object detection, monocular depth estimation, and geospatial algorithms.

Community Engagement and Open Data Advocacy

One of our proudest achievements is the establishment of a vibrant global walking community of mappers. This community is comprised of individuals passionate about improving pedestrian infrastructure and making cities more walkable for all. With 60 members hailing from 14 countries spanning across Oceania, Asia, Europe, and North America, our community is dedicated to our shared mission.

We've actively engaged with the OpenStreetMap (OSM) community, attending State of the Map conferences in the Philippines, Thailand, and the USA over the past three years, and contributing valuable walking and walkability-related data to OSM.

NSW Government Innovation Challenges

We were successful in two NSW government innovation challenges, including the City Revitalization Innovation Challenge and the Smart City Innovation Challenge. These victories provided essential funding, enabling us to train and test our early AI models, expand our work to regional areas, and partner with Mapillary to map out pedestrian infrastructure in Kiama, published on OSM and the Mapillary platform.

Many Applications

At footpath.ai, our mission extends beyond mapping pedestrian infrastructure; we're committed to utilizing our detailed sidewalk map data to enact positive change and enrich urban environments. Our data has diverse applications, including enhancing city planning by assessing footpath accessibility and identifying areas for maintenance or improvement, ensuring safe and accessible pedestrian routes. Additionally, we facilitate outdoor activities by providing immersive virtual tours and walking routes, encouraging healthy lifestyles and accurate navigation. Ensuring student safety is paramount; our data analyzes footpath conditions around schools, identifying hazards and enabling cities to create secure walking environments. Furthermore, delivery companies benefit from our data by optimizing routes for bikes, e-bikes, and cargo bikes, as well as automated sidewalk delivery robots, ensuring seamless delivery experiences.

A Medium article by Joan Lääne, Mapping Specialist at Starship Technologies, effectively underscores the essential need for prior-built maps of sidewalks for sidewalk delivery robots:

“To get from point A to point B the robots need to plan a route ahead which in turn requires some sort of a map. Even though there are already many publicly available mapping systems such as Google Maps and OpenStreetMaps, they have the limitation that they are designed with car navigation in mind and mostly focus on mapping car roads. Since these delivery robots travel on sidewalks, they need an accurate map of where it is safe to travel on sidewalks and where to cross streets just like a child needs a mental map on how to get to school safely and on time every day.”

Our sidewalk network data published on OSM provides the much-needed details for sidewalk route planning and wayfinding.

The Future

As we reflect on our progress, we recognize that our journey is far from over. We're driven to continue pushing boundaries and effecting positive change. Together, with our team, partners, and community, we're poised to lead the way in pedestrian infrastructure mapping and advocacy for years to come.

Join us as we pave the path towards more sustainable, pedestrian-friendly cities, because every step counts. Imagine maps focused on pedestrians, not just cars. That's what we are envisioning and working to build. Thank you for being part of the footpath.ai journey. Here's to many more years of innovation, collaboration, and impact.