How the map decides.

Sources

Where the truth comes from.

Four inputs, weighted in this order — and never blended into one confident-sounding answer when they disagree.

• People first, databases second

  The primary source is the community: people who actually roll, walk, and ride a place answering plain-language questions — step-free entrance, restroom fit, lighting, noise, staff helpfulness. Databases inform; people verify. A venue's accessibility label is only ever as current as its last human confirmation.

• Open street data, used honestly

  Sidewalk geometry, curb-cut tags, and surface notes come from OpenStreetMap and its accessibility layers (like OpenSidewalks). OSM is strong and getting stronger, but tags are inconsistent city to city — so open data seeds the map and flags what's likely, while community review decides what's trusted. When the two disagree, the person on the ground wins.

• Transit feeds where they exist

  MARTA publishes elevator and escalator status; where a transit agency exposes a live feed, outages stream into routes as they happen. Where it doesn't, riders' reports carry the load — and we say which is which rather than blending them into one confident-sounding answer.

• Venue owners, on the record

  Businesses can see what the community reports about them, reply officially, and mark features themselves. Owner claims are labeled as owner claims — useful, but weighted differently from a disabled rider's first-hand account.

Scoring

From reports to a number you can argue with.

• Scores reweight to the person

  There is no single 'accessible' score, because there is no single body. Your profile — wheels, cane, stroller, low vision, low stamina, sensory needs — sets the constraints, and the same place re-scores against them. A steep ramp is fine for some and a wall for others; the map shouldn't pretend otherwise.

• Confidence is shown, not hidden

  Every score carries its evidence: how many reports, how recent, how much agreement. One enthusiastic report reads differently from twelve consistent ones across a year. Where evidence is thin, we show that thinness instead of rounding it into false confidence.

• 'Yes' is held to a higher bar than 'no'

  A place only earns a confident 'step-free' when the evidence supports it. Absent or mixed data defaults to 'route through with caution' — never 'avoid,' which would starve exactly the places the big maps already skip, and never an unearned 'accessible.' The full reasoning is in our essay on the higher bar.

Known limits

What we can't know yet.

Stated plainly, because a methodology that hides its failure modes is marketing, not method.

• The map starts thin

  At launch, Atlanta coverage will be real but partial. We name what's verified, what's seeded from open data, and what's unknown — three states, never collapsed into one. A thin honest map beats a thick dishonest one.

• Data goes stale

  Construction, weather, a remodel — accessibility is time-sensitive. Reports carry timestamps, live alerts expire on their own, and stale answers sink in ranking rather than posing as current.

• Routers inherit their data's gaps

  A step-free route is only as good as the curb-cut and surface data beneath it. We show route confidence and what it's based on; when the engine can't vouch for a segment, the route says so. Overclaiming a route is the one failure this product must never have.

• We can be wrong

  Community data carries community errors — and bias. Reports are attributable, confirmed by the next person through, and open to challenge. If our data paints a place worse or better than your visit, that's a bug we want reported.

Common questions

The questions this page owes answers to.

Asked the way people actually ask them. The answers restate the method above — no new promises.

How does Ableway decide if a place is accessible?

It doesn't decide once — it decides for you. There is no single 'accessible' score, because there is no single body: your profile (wheels, cane, stroller, low vision, sensory needs) sets the constraints, and the same place re-scores against them. A place only earns a confident 'yes' when the evidence supports it; mixed or missing data defaults to 'route through with caution,' never an unearned 'accessible.'

Where does Ableway's accessibility data come from?

Four inputs, weighted in this order: first-hand reports from people who actually roll, walk, and ride a place; open street data from OpenStreetMap and its accessibility layers, which seeds the map; live transit feeds like MARTA's elevator status where agencies publish them; and venue owners, whose claims are labeled as owner claims rather than blended in. When sources disagree, the person on the ground wins.

Can I correct wrong accessibility information on Ableway?

Yes — corrections are a designed path, not an afterthought. Reports are attributable and confirmed by the next person through, and any report can be challenged. When Ableway is live, every place page will carry a one-tap correction; until then, email hello@ableway.co with anything that's off and a human will act on it.