I was wondering if Canalplan has any plans in place to include information on accessible moorings or facilities on its maps? If not would you be interested in working with us to formulate a plan to include this in any future updates.?
(https://i.postimg.cc/zVBz2sqd/disabled-3on-white.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/zVBz2sqd)
We could certainly look at adding if moorings are suitable for disabled access - I think the towpath access at bridges already supports the concept of \"wheeled\" access.
How would you envisage it being displayed on the maps?
Always happy to add things that will be useful - if you could create a feature request in the bug tracker (which isn't just for bugs) with some ideas of what you'd like to see it will ensure no-one forgets about it.
As Steve says, we put \"suitable for wheels\" in as an option for access, but I'm sure plenty more would be possible but you probably have a much better idea of what you need than we do.
Have you come across the concept of \"user stories\"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story The idea is that you create wishes in the form of \"As a wheelchair user I want to be able to know whether I can get safely from the road to the canal\" (to cover one we've done). A few of those would be a great way to help us do this.
Make us a purple ally for boaters!
hi, sorry for delay replying,
how to show on maps, internationally reconised symbol of wheelchair is probally the best, though I can see issues when needing to denote between mooring or facilities such as disabled toilets.
User Stories or similar is something we already have a few of at Disabledboaters.org - naturally I would need the writers permission to share, but sure they are happy too, and of course can add a few of my own.
I am currently working on a questionare/form to circulate to make it easier to gather appropiate information and would welcome your input.
Great idea on the purple ally for boaters.
Thank you
\"User Stories\" ..... arrrrghhhhhhh Agile!!!!!
I work with them every day at work!
Can you raise a feature request - even if its just a place holder so we don't forget about this.
We can use this topic for general discussion and put the details on the ticket.
I see that there is now this
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/walking/accessibility-map
So some of our work might just be updating our towpath access type to include these.
We of course only have bridges on Canalplan - we don't have things like footpath or road access onto the canals because its a lot of data and would confuse people unless we somehow managed to create a new place type of access point which wouldn't be use for route planning but could appear in route maps.
It's actually a bit more subtle than that. Any place can have access information, but canalplan defaults only to showing and prompting for bridges (because that's where most are).
So if there's a spot where a road comes alongside with nice easy access there's nothing to stop you creating a place for that, and then using \"edit\" to set access information.
My main concern was that these places might start to clutter up route planning. So do we want to basically create a new point type so they can have specific attributes?
There are other places - like the Visitor moorings opposite Mintball where there is the path through to the estate so they are wheelchair friendly where you'd just flag them as disabled friendly and put in a note about the path.
I've moved this topic as it's probably better in here as a general discussion about new features.
Suggestions from one person are:
locations of accessible moorings
locations of sanitary stations and what facilities they have
towpath access points and their nature (steps/slope/barrier....)
lit areas of moorings
I don't think adding any of these is a huge bit of work - We do access points at bridges, Nick has said towpath access points don't need any work (but I think we might need to add to the list of access types - like Gate, Style, open path).
We do know about sanitary stations and we list the facilties they have but we just say \"Toilets\". Maybe we need to add \"Toilets (Disabled Friendly)\". For example the ones at Market Drayton have a ramp and the toilet area is disabled friendly.