Open opyh opened 4 years ago
Thank you for all this! You've clearly put a lot of work into these investigations, so we should talk about how best to progress things from here. Schema.org in general is wary of adding large vocabularies that are not accompanied by plans to consume/read/extract and use the corresponding data. We have messed up on this previously (eg see https://health-lifesci.schema.org/) and are wary of repeating that experience. Are there any tools, projects or services who could engage with this physical accessibility vocabulary work and commit to using it in some user-facing product? Without something like that to guide us it will be hard to pick an appropriate level of detail...
Thanks for this information! I've been working for several years on physical a11y data (consuming and producing) and I think I understand exactly what you mean :) This proposal would not make sense without others that want to adopt it.
I've added a missing stakeholder group to my comment in schemaorg/schemaorg#254, text copied here:
Professional accessibility assessors: From our experience, it seems like every municipality creates its own data standard and software for assessing the accessibility of its venues, often in great detail. Even from bigger projects that assess accessibility details, we get report data for Wheelmap.org and accessibility.cloud in in very heterogeneous formats, often as a PDF with copy & pasted text fragments. The detail level can go as far down as to the material of the carpets and how often they are vacuumed (this is actually a real-life example we found in hotel accessibility certification surveys). This is valuable information, but it is not usable if it only exist as a text fragment. There was an argument made against a detailed schema.org accessibility in the mailing list, but that was back in 2015 and we have gotten quite a bit further with the issue in the meantime :) For assessors such as those mentioned and to be able to make use of their data globally, we need a high level of detail in the standard. This does not mean we can't have a simple defined term list; having a structure analog to
CreativeWork
and a structure with detailed types are not mutually exclusive, but can in fact complement each other.
I hope this sheds some light on why simple defined term lists as described in https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/2438 are not enough.
From an end user's perspective, this is a real world issue: For example, it's almost impossible to book an accessible hotel online because accessibility is not described in detail but in very general terms. This means it's not clear if a "wheelchair accessible hotel" actually has a room that fits the specific needs of a guest. Even if a room is marked as accessible, this doesn't guarantee (for example) that there is enough space for turning a wheelchair next to the bed. In reality, a person booking an accessible hotel has to call each potential hotel to find out if it can really accommodate their needs, or to consult a certification provider. We want to change this. A11y should be a built-in feature of mainstream products, and not create a separate world for people with disabilities. Numerous examples exist in other areas that affect people with disabilities, for instance in public transportation and in e-commerce.
I acknowledge that in some regards we're in a chicken-and-egg situation here – if there is no standard, the accessibility problem won't be fixed in the real world, and if it isn't fixed in the real world yet, it is difficult to standardize a solution. The issues described above might take a decade to fix, but having them be part of a global standard, even if it's not yet perfect, is a big step towards that fix.
We (Sozialhelden e.V. / Wheelmap.org / accessibility.cloud) are committed to using the new vocabulary as consumers and as data producers, and to promoting the standard in our communications with the tourism industry, location-based/maps/navigation services, public transport providers, and media outlets. Our plan is to replace A11yJSON with a web community-based linked data standard. Wheelmap already asks end users to survey data in the detail level described in this proposed idea, but is based on A11yJSON. Professional a11y assessors have much greater detail in their surveys, but as described above, the missing global standard makes their data non-exchangable. We would also like to add schema.org descriptions to each place on Wheelmap.org. Because our data often contains unique URLs of the places, embedding schema.org would provide augmented accessibility information that would go beyond what venues provide themselves.
Parties that are probably interested in standardizing physical a11y and its certification - some of whom are contributors to accessibility.cloud - are:
Other user facing products where we see potential value:
For almost every one of the proposed types and attributes we have a real-world use case as well as at least one user-facing consumer and one potential producer in our network or on accessibility.cloud. The plan is that Wheelmap.org will show all the properties proposed above. Accessibility.cloud, the world's largest open a11y dataset, which has 60 open data sources with ~1,3m places with a11y, and ~3300 elevators from multiple public transport providers, will migrate it’s data to a global standard, when it is available. We are in this for the long haul - wheelmap.org has already been around for 10 years, which in internet time is something ;)
What do you think about these next steps? I'm totally open for different suggestions :)
See issue #7 for the context of the move from the main Schema.org issue tracker to this repository.
What are the next steps here? To create a PR:
https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/tree/main/data/ext/pending
Part of schemaorg/schemaorg#254. Related to schemaorg/schemaorg#2439 and schemaorg/schemaorg#2438.
We need a set of types to describe physical / civic / architectural features of places that facilitate mobility in general, e.g. stairways, travelators, escalator, elevators, doors connecting
Place
s andRoom
s, and a separate concept of entrances/exits (an entrance/exit is not necessarily a door, but can be an escalator, for example). Data formats that contain data like this exist - you can find physical a11y datasets on OpenStreetMap, Wheelmap, accessibility.cloud, and in GTFS pathways data sources, for example.While schemaorg/schemaorg#2438 explains an idea to describe the simple existence/non-existence of defined general accessibility features, hazards, or controls, the types described below can provide information about more complex aspects of accessibility.
Below is our rough idea how an extension for accessibility could look like, extracted from our experiences with collecting physical accessibility attributes in A11yJSON.
This proposal does not aim to provide a complete vocabulary for routing and navigation.
Questions:
Thing
s (for example: two doors and two escalators), as a best practice?AnimalPolicy
(described below) it seemed the structure was easier to understand than inventing defined terms.AmenityFeature
concept, as a best practice, for associating places with their amenity features, or rather combine the types below withPlace
and nest them usinghasPart
/isPartOf
and/orgeo*
properties?Ideas for proposed changes
Place
minValue
property. This is relevant for wheelchair accessibility, especially for users of electric wheelchairs.Service
Organization
Vehicle
Ideas for proposed new types
Thing > Intangible > AnimalPolicy
Provides information about how the operators of an
Organization
,Place
orService
deal with people accompanied by animals. This is relevant for people who need an assistance animal (e.g. a guide dog), or travel with a pet.True
if the place allows bringing any kind of animal,False
if not.True
if the place allows visitors to bring dogs in general,False
if bringing them is explicitly prohibited (with exception of assistance dogs, ifallowsAssistanceDogs
isTrue
).True
if the place allows visitors to bring assistance/guide dogs, False if bringing them is explicitly prohibited.True
if the place denies entry to visitors bringing a dogs without muzzles,False
if dogs without muzzles are explicitly allowed.True
if the place supplies water for accompanying animals, False if explicitly not.Thing > Intangible > Service > MobilityService
An aggregation of references to services that are usually associated with mobility in public transport. This is relevant as accessibility information for travellers.
Thing > Intangible > OperationalStatus
Describes the current operational status of a
Thing
.True
if the equipment is currently usable,False
if it's out of service.HowTo
s that describe alternative ways a user can take when they can’t use the facility (for excample because it is out of order)."up"
or"down"
). Can be used to provide real-time updates, e.g. forElevator
orEscalator
.Thing > GroundSurface
Describes the quality of a physical ground surface. Use this to describe road or sidewalk conditions, or to provide indoor accessibility information for people with mobility impairments.
True
if the surface is even and not plastered,False
if not even or plastered.True
if the described object can be used step-free and the ground/floor is level,False
if not (e.g. if users have to take a step to use the main functionality). Can beTrue
even if the ground/floor is not perfectly even but plastered, for example - for this case, you can provide asurface
property instead.Thing > Product > Door
Describes a physical door, typically used as entrance or exit to a room or building. You can combine this as multi-type entity with
Place
(for adding geospatial information).True
if the door is always open or fully automatic,False
if it has to be opened or closed manually.True
if the door closes automatically,False
if it has to be closed manually.True
if the door is a revolving door,False
if not.True
if the door is a turnstile,False
if not.True
if the door is made of transparent material,False
if not. Relevant for people with visual impairments.minValue
property."radarAccessKey"
for a RADAR key, or"euroAccessKey"
for a Euro key.Place > EntranceOrExit
Describes a physical entrance to a place. If a
Thing
is used as an entrance or exit, this type can be combined as multi-type entity with other types likeDoor
,Elevator
,Escalator
, orRamp
.An Entrance SHOULD have a
name
property with the name of the entrance if there are multiple entrances to the same place. If one or more physical sign(s) exist for the entrance, the value ofname
SHOULD correspond to what is readable on the sign(s).True
if this is the designated main entrance/exit for the associated place,False
if not.True
if this resource can be used by visitors to enter the Place it is contained in,False
if not.True
if this resource can be used by visitors to exit the Place it is contained in,False
if not.Place
orThing
from which thisEntranceOrExit
leads to somewhere else. Use together with theisUnidirectional
property.Place
orThing
to which thisEntranceOrExit
leads. Use together with theisUnidirectional
property.True
if users can only traverse this resource in one direction,False
if it can by explicitly used bidirectionally. If set toTrue
, the order oforigin
anddestination
describes the allowed traversal direction.Thing > Product > Handrails
Describes one single physical handle bar, a pair of handle bars, or support handrails, typically provided as a standing or walking aid needed while using a physical facility (e.g. a corridor, or a toilet).
Thing > Product > Vehicle > Ramp
Describes a static or mobile ramp with a slope/incline. Use this to provide information for people with mobility impairments.
True
if the ramp is removable or mobile,False
if it is fixed. Many places have smaller steps at the entrance, but provide a mobile ramp to compensate this when asked. This ramp is usually installed when a visitor calls for assistance in advance, uses a designated doorbell, or when they are seen from the inside.Thing > Product > Vehicle > Stairs
Describes physical stairs. Use this to provide information for people with mobility impairments.
True
if all relevant steps are coated with anti-slip material,False
if not.True
if all relevant steps have a visually recognizable high contrast nosing,False
if not.Thing > Product > Vehicle > Elevator
Describes a physical elevator that transports people or goods vertically. If properties of the supertype
Vehicle
are used, they should describe the elevator’s cabin, moving platform, or sling. If a cabin or platform is part of the elevator, it'swidth
anddepth
properties should be included for accessibility.True
if the equipment has doors in opposite directions. Relevant for people using a wheelchair, rollator, cargo bike or pushchair to know if they have to turn.Thing > Product > Vehicle > Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep them horizontal (Wikipedia).
Thing > Product > Vehicle > Escalator > Stairlift
A stair lift is a mechanical device for lifting people up and down stairs. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A person gets onto the chair or platform and is lifted up or down the stairs by the chair which moves along the rail.
Stair lifts are known variously as stair lifts, stair-lifts, chair lifts, stair gliders and by other names. This type of chair lift should not be confused with the chairlift used by skiers. The term stair climber can refer either to stair lifts, or more commonly to the exercise equipment by the same name. (Wikipedia).
New identifiers