In the past year, the federal government gave over $145 million to different Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs throughout the country. A good portion of these projects are manual labor projects in which communities and organizations help rebuild areas surrounding areas to make schools more accessible by walking and/or biking. these projects mostly accomplish their goals and make schools more accessible.
The remaining SRTS projects focus on promoting alternate transportaion methods for children to go to school, and these efforts seem to be less successful in convincing kids to walk or bike to school. The majority of these promotional projects are events and activities that try to show students the benefits of walking or biking to school. However, these events are usually one day and have little effect on the children’s commuting habits. What is needed is a way to continuously inform students on the benefits of walking or biking to school each day.
Some organizations have begun using modern, Public Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) to display walking and biking information for students. Projects like in West Windsor, NJ, where the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance has established a West Windsor Walkability and West Windsor Bikeability websites to show not just students, but adults as well, the benefits of walking or biking about town.
Maps like these are provided by the company VERTICES. VERTICES provides mapping applications through its online amppling application, Mappler, for non-profit and government organizations. One of the most noted features of Mappler is its interactive abilities. Anyone with the correct password can log on to a Mappler website and add or change information, which first must be checked for accuracy by and administrator. Route conditions, hazards, and highlights can be updated instantly. This interactive quality makes Mappler the perfect program for SRTS promotion because it will give the children the opportunity to become part of the map-making process, which invests them more in the walkability and bikeability projects. In the coming years, Mappler will be one of the pioneering SRTS applications the will help change how we get children involved in walk and bike friendly activities.
