Moving forward : opportunities for Vancouver's digital wayfinding map

When the City of Vancouver adopted the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan in 2010, it made a commitment to become the greenest city in the world within 10 years. Around the same time, in an effort to encourage more residents and visitors to explore the city on foot, information kiosks, or ‘map stands’, were installed across the city displaying neighbourhood maps and destinations. A pilot project in 2012 informed a system-wide refresh of these map stands to correct out-ofdate information and to implement new best practices in pedestrian wayfinding design. One of the assets created as a result of this refresh was a custom, digital map of Vancouver. This report identifies opportunities for the new digital wayfinding map with a particular emphasis on its potential to encourage more walking trips throughout the city. A review of Vancouver’s relevant local policies highlights actions supporting improvements to pedestrian wayfinding, walkability, health, and the continued release of freely accessible ‘open data’. Existing literature covering active transportation, urban wayfinding, and mobile wayfinding tools forms a foundation for lessons learned from a peer wayfinding review covering London, New York, Toronto, Helsinki, Edmonton, Melbourne, and the University of British Columbia. In-situ meetings with City employees, project partners, and the Wayfinding Working Group refine potential uses of the map, and helped gauge interest in becoming more involved with the project moving forward. The report concludes with the following recommendations: • Create a standardized template for Development Permit Application signage • Build guidelines for new walking route maps • Produce a line of map-branded merchandise • Release of a public wayfinding map Application Programming Interface (API) • Pursue the creation of an online Map Maker application • Embed standardized interactive maps onto the City’s website • Support the planning and execution of a map-focused Hackathon event Thanks to the previous investment into the creation of the digital wayfinding map, Vancouver now has access to a tremendous new asset with a wide range of potential benefits. If the City decides not to pursue any additional applications for the new map, it will miss out on a number of opportunities to set a new precedent for wayfinding and civic mapping. The investment has been made, and now is the time to continue moving forward.Applied Science, Faculty ofCommunity and Regional Planning (SCARP), School ofUnreviewedGraduat