Annals of Walking – 6
A pedestrian perspective.
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A GHETTO APP?
Microsoft is under fire this week over a patent it was granted that’s been dubbed the “avoid ghetto” feature for GPS devices. The new feature is meant to help pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods, bad weather and difficult terrain by taking information from maps, weather reports, crime statistics and demographics, and creating directions that, according to the patent, take “the user through neighborhoods with violent crime statistics below a certain threshold.”
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THE DAILY SHAME
A new blog from Auckland documenting cars parking on the footpaths, as they call the sidewalks:
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“It’s sad that it is so easy to take at least one photo a day of this crap.”
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A bit similar outta Los Angeles – I came across this “A Car Was Here” blog: http://acarwashere.wordpress.com/
That pick looks more like a dry cleaner’s drop off area (like the one at Broadway & Arbutus) rather than “sidewalk”. I guess the pedestrian and vehicle realm is blurred.
Trust me it’s a footpath (Sidewalk), I took the picture. I think you’re confused because the surface is Asphalt which is unusual for a sidewalk in Vancouver, but in Auckland it’s a common treatment.
There’s also a Valetor dry cleaners on Burrard near 5th Ave. I think that has a similar covered area for drop-off and pick-up.
Here’s the exact location… Decide for yourself. As it is at the intersection, hopefully people don’t just drive straight on up where people would normally be waiting for the crossing.
http://maps.google.com/?ll=-36.846225,174.742349&spn=122.129379,270.527344&t=w&z=3&layer=c&panoid=DIghUMyGKKdUJTB6wIukCw&cbll=-36.846225,174.742349&cbp=13,-88.18289278724065,,0,7.090858267195429
This is a good time to note how bad asphalt footpaths are. They degrade pedestrian status and blur the distinction between vehicle and pedestrian space.
Wellington, NZ is much the same, drivers feel free to use any space at aIl for parking. The attitude there is very different over all. In Vancouver cars will generally wait for pedestrians, in Wellington it was fine if you were in a marked crossing, but anywhere else you’d better run if a car comes up, and most intersections outside the downtown core did not have marked crossings for pedestrians.
In contrast Wellington drivers are incredibly polite to other drivers compared to Vancouver.
Thanks for the link.
Definitely not the same as the dry cleaner drop-offs here.
The canopy over the sidewalk seems to be a feature along that stretch of road.
Phone apps for walkers are all very well for people who have cell phones, and I’m sure there’s an app that tells you how long it takes to walk between destinations in Vancouver, but wouldn’t it be great if someone just put up signs like this guy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17107653