ClearWay Maps

Inspiration

Millions of people with disabilities face daily obstacles that compromise their safety (e.g., uneven pathways, steep ramps, etc.).

While tools like Google Maps have started offering an “accessible route” option, it’s vague and often buried under other tabs. Most unfairly, it remains an “option”—not the standard—that creates an illusion of inclusion rather than actual accessibility.

ClearWay Maps stemmed from the simple belief: navigating the world should be easy for everyone.

What It Does

ClearWay Maps is a GPS map and a review platform in one, designed for people with mobility issues. It displays the city map, and upon clicking on any location, the user can rank its accessibility using a wide range of criteria. Each criterion changes the location’s rating. Inclusive, or positive, criteria include ramp, automatic door sensor, working elevators, and more. In turn, non-inclusive, or negative, criteria include stairs-only, steep inclines, broken elevators, etc.

Once finalized, the summative rating is shown above the location as a smiley face:

• Happy face, meaning “accessible,”
• Poker face, meaning “could be better,”
• Sad face, meaning “poorly accessible” or “inaccessible.”

For people with visual impairments, an icon’s alt-text description is read aloud.

Also, the user is free to leave a review and/or enter their feedback manually, and to rate the location from 1 to 5 stars. If the user encounters an unexpected hazard, they can snap a quick picture of it via the built-in camera and report it.

Lastly, ClearWay Maps analyzes paths to the desired destination and then offers multiple accessible routes.

How We Built It

We coded ClearWay Maps in JavaScript, enhancing it later in Claude Code. The final version was put together in VS Code.

Challenges

Implementation of the Google Maps API key was a little challenging at first. So, our very first version was tested on a basic city with imaginary locations.

Once we successfully merged ClearWay Maps with Google Maps, we ran into another issue: locations weren’t clickable, making them impossible to rate. Still, we were able to fix this.

Accomplishments & What We Learned

Creating ClearWay Maps was an amazing opportunity to learn about true inclusion. We had great fun designing the interface and calculating routes to real, Los Angeles-based locations.

Plus, we were proud to push our creativity to the max, wanting to consider every group of people with mobility issues.

What’s Next for ClearWay Maps

Next up, we’re going to perfect ClearWay Maps so that the app is neat and usable. We aim to launch it locally and receive the necessary feedback to make it the easiest-to-use map app on the market.

Built With

• claude
• google-maps
• html
• javascript
• vs-code