Automated Accessibility Registration

Filter items

Initiator(s):

Agency for Domestic Governance (ABB), Inter-Accessible Flanders Agency and City of Mechelen

Theme:

Digitalisation

Domain:

Governance

Active state:

Realised

Contact:

ABB
Bart Misseeuw
T +32 9 250 04 22

PIP
An Schrijvers
T +32 486 35 43 99

Tabs

Challenge

"Can I with my reduced mobility (wheelchair, walker, crutches, stroller, etc.) visit building X (museum, cultural centre, public service, etc.), take part in the event (concert, exhibition, etc.) and use the facilities available (restaurant, sanitary block, etc.)?"

This question is asked daily by 15 percent of the population, but until today the answer remains often unsatisfactory.

With this project, the initiators (Agency for Domestic Governance, Inter – Accessible Flanders Agency and the City of Mechelen) want to explore the possibilities of developing an automated system to measure and register the accessibility of buildings.

The initiators think of a combination of

the use of drones or robots that take pictures or video images of the building,
with image recognition techniques and AI applications for the automatic assignment of certain accessibility parameters.

Until now, this whole process has been done manually which is very time-consuming and cost-inefficient.

Preparation

To help the initiators, Verhaert was appointed in May 2020.

Needs assessment

In the course of June-July 2020, the needs were assessed during workshops with Inter and ABB staff members, who are well acquainted with the parameters that should ideally be taken into account to estimate the accessibility of buildings. The end users themselves (persons with disabilities) were not directly involved in the workshops.

Market research

Next, Verhaert performed a market analysis by means of desk research. This market analysis resulted in a number of avenues that partly meet the needs of Inter/ABB and their end users. They are explained in the report.

Report

Verhaert's report (in Dutch) can be found here.

Next steps

Based on the results of the needs and market analysis, it was decided not to continue the project within PIO.

On the one hand, the initial objective proved to be too ambitious for Inter/ABB. The automatic attribution of accurate measurement values (dimensions of doors, thresholds, etc.) to scanned images using AI is still in its infancy (too much risk, too much investment, etc.). The market is working on it and the developments are promising, but Inter should wait for these developments before investing in them itself. On the other hand, there are ready-made solutions available on the market that visualise buildings in 3D (offering a virtual tour, but without exact dimensions) and thus allow people with and without disabilities to experience a building virtually. These solutions are already being used in various sectors (including real estate). Provided there is sufficient added value for Inter and its end users (to be validated in workshops with these end users), and provided Inter is correctly positioned for this within the policy (to be examined) and provided adjustments are made to the current IT environment of Inter, Inter can simply purchase this solution as a ready-made and 'as-a-service'.

This 'spread' led to the completion of the preliminary process. No market consultation was held to validate the insights from the market analysis with the industry, because it would not immediately result in a public tender.

Inter does intend to work with the insights gained and is checking which track would be the most appropriate.