The mostly adopted pedestrian or cyclist navigation systems are derived from car navigation systems, where the pedestrian is "a car with no wheels, and two feet instead".
This gives a bias from the start, and short-cuts between buildings are rarely considered. The criteria of relatively cleaner air on a path, or more enjoyable sights which may matter to the pedestrian individual are not taken into account.
The minimal path search assumed as optimal may not be the choice which individuals would make, given the opportunity: using the walk to reinforce fitness and exercise (voluntary stairs climb, etc).
The urban versus natural segments may not be considered either among valid options, one would like to be offered.
What would be your criteria for a pedestrian navigation system?
Safety first. Whether or not permission has been granted to cross private property. Noise levels. Time savings.
It should be expected, in vehicle vs pedestrian or cyclist path optimization, that different constraint sets should apply. There are many examples of differences. For one thing, paths categorized as available, for vehicular traffic, are frequently not available to pedestrian traffic. Some are unpleasant, for pedestrian traffic, but many are not even allowed.
Again, too many examples to list, in a short reply. How about expressways (autobahnen, autostrade, autoroutes, interstate highways)? How about long tunnels, for vehicular traffic? Also the other way around. Pedestrian alleys, bike paths, and the like, might be available for cyclists and pederstrians, not for cars, buses, or trucks.
Any navigation algorithm, intended for a certain type of moving body, has to be aware of at least that much. Path constraints change, depending.
I am a little old fashioned, I would advise a system of marked paths, with numbers signaling the direction changes that could be introduced in the software. Between two numbers, the main features of the walk could be indicated.
CROWDED STREET
Can I add a special use case of pedestrian or bicycle traffic?
[Note: I refer to normal times, not the current covid19 lockdown, but our life before and hopefully after]
-with the car we face traffic jams
-as cyclists somewhat less, except if you look at the London commuter cycling (home to work before 9:00, work to home after 17:00) in cycling lanes. It can be so overwhelming that one does not enjoy the liberating effect of a cycle ride compared with a bus/car in a traffic jam.
-as pedestrians, we know the busy shopping districts on Saturdays like Oxford Street in London. There, walking is not a nice experience, because of the crowd.
How can we detect crowds/ crowded areas (which means high density of pedestrians or cyclists for the area considered, a "bottleneck")?
How can we route around, or guiding principles for those building an itinerary?
For walkers: time, safety, air pollution, noise levels, green, shadow, commerce, accessibility (are there obstacles for baby carts, wheelchairs, etc?) considering the diversity of users in age and mobility conditions.
So, in practice, it would mean quality of the infrastructure, shorter paths, interest, arborization and calm traffic venues.
For bikers: quality of the infrastructure, shorter paths, interest, arborization and calm traffic venues. Same names, compared to walkers, but different meanings.
Good day !
I would like to offer 2 remarks on crowding;
given the succes of more or less active modes, some growding might appear especially on limited capacity linfrastructure, because of convergence (for example a bridge)
1) regarding the travel time, if only a small portion of the itinerary is crowded, this is not very important (example, 10 mn walk on a total communting time of 30 mn, if this is not 10 but 12;, who cares ?) The travel time could be indicated with an intervalle : 8 to 12 mn.
2)According to what has been observed with the Solomon curve (50s) for safety, one of the main concern is the difference of speed, not the speed in itself.. It seems to be the case of lanes with bycicle lane and pedestrian path. . Electric trotin seems to be rather dangerous for all kind sof trafic. One of the somution could be to ban them entirely, in crowded lanes or even, in some municipalities.. But I wonder if this policy would be popular.
Thanks Dominique Bouf, useful comments.
To expand on your point 1) where the walk is part of a longer multi-modal journey, one dynamic criterion would be to adjust to train/transport schedules in walk routing: you do not need to rush if you're early and you could have a more enjoyable walk through a park, etc, whereas you go straight if you're just in time to catch a train.
Does it make sense?
Renaud,
I agree totally with your point, at least in a world where everybody is young and in good health. Personnaly, I try to walk when the wheter is permitting, but the problem with train inter-urban transportation is the luggage ! Some decades from now, it was possible to travel by train with your luggage shipped separately by the French railways. I am not sure whether this service is still available.
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