About Wheelmap

Wheelmap.org is a map for wheelchair accessible places.

…and what Full Circle Arts love is: It's about us all sharing contributing and building together. Wheelmap was built by our friends (Sozialhelden)  social heroes eV a user led not for profit organisation in Berlin. The website is built on Ruby on Rails and although the source code is not currently open source, they are thinking about doing that in the future. All location data comes from OpenStreetMap , the biggest user-generated mapping project of the world. Think wikipedia for maps. Anyone can easily find add and change places - like Wikipedia. The beauty is that it is built on OpenStreet Map.

Wheelmap as the name suggests is for wheelchair users, parents with prams and buggies and those with mobility impairments. For those with visual or hearing impairments Wheelmap says this "We want to concentrate on wheelchair accessibility because we believe that blind and deaf people need different solutions and we should not put them in the same box. Nevertheless we believe that the source code of Wheelmap could be developed further to meet those needs".



Wheelmap is available as an iPhone app, on Android and for your desktop. You can get the apps by clicking here. You can use the iLOE or Mapzen POI collector to tag places and useleisure to find out about the status of wheelchair accessible places around you. And since the OpenStreetMap community is growing, we can expect more to come.

This is where YOU come in. We really need allies to help build the map for use everywhere, you don't have to be a Wheelchair user to add information, and if you do add a place it's really useful, not just to wheelchair users but to parents with buggies and prams and people who find steps difficult.  Most of us know, are, have been or will be someone who fits this description. If you work in a venue, pub, bar or cafe or any place open to the public, or if you are holding an event or meet up somewhere adding your place to the map is a huge help and we would encourage you to do so.

At Full Circle Arts we have the accessible venues guide which covers all impairments, but information on accessibility should be available easily on every venue and place open to the public. We would like to see the law changed so that every piece of information on an organisation or company open to the public simply stated whether it was accessible or not. This wouldn't cost anything other than a few minutes of the companies time. This should also be a requirement for ALL websites, guides and reviews. For example it's amazing how many websites and pub guides let you know whether or not dogs are welcome but don't let you know about access.

So in the meantime, we would love it if you could do your little bit to help, if you have a smart phone it couldn't be easier just download for free and start using and adding. If you've been to an arts venue (or pub with arts/music events) that has good access and it's not on our venues guide please contact us, or comment on our site and we will get it added asap.

How can you use Wheelmap.

A simple traffic light system indicates the suitability of the wheelchair accessible locations.
It uses (or you enter details under) the following criteria:

Wheelchair accessible: Yes

• Entrance: level or ramped no steps


• Rooms: all without steps.


• If toilets are available: a wheelchair accessible toilet is available (much wider than a normal toilet cubicle)

Wheelchair accessible: partially

• Entrance: up to a level not higher than 7 cm (about a hand's breadth)


• Rooms: the main ones are all accessible (eg selected cinemas)


• No wheelchair accessible toilet is available

Wheelchair accessible: no

• Input: greater than 7 cm (about a hand's breadth)


• Rooms: the main rooms are not always accessible

Unknown

• The status is still unknown and needs to be entered.

 

So if you know a wheelchair accessible location is not listed on Wheelmap then please just add it yourself. Here's how:

1. Sign up for Wheelmap (free)


2. Move the map to where the place is. This is easy if you are looking for the street name and / or the city.


3. Click on the orange button "Add Location"