Path of least resistance : using geo-games and crowdsourced data to map cycling frictions

Abstract

•Cycling provides a low-cost, low-pollution, active mode of transport. Cycling can provide a solution to urban mobility issues such as con gestion, traffic accidents, transport poverty, inequality and public health issues such as inactivity and obesity. Policies and programmes promoting cycling have increased cycling dramatically in cities worldwide.

• The Cyclist Geo-C app has been developed to involve citizens in open cycling data collection by tracking cyclists’ movements and collect ing feedback on their journeys through the selection of tags.

• The Cyclist Geo-C app allows for the identification of areas where cycling takes place, where areas of friction are located and where infrastructural or design improvements are needed to address the identified frictions.

• Volunteers confirm the suitability of collaboration-based gamification to engage bicycle commuters in collecting open cycling data, in contrast with the more commonly used competition-based strategies used in sports cycling apps.