brightpath
Consumer and social
walking route planner
SHOW HN2020
How HN took it
10 positive, 34 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 8 critical, out of 54 comments about the project. Thread score +0.05.
Idea: 5 for, 6 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful idea for avoiding unsafe walking routes
From 2 comments
That is a great idea! Often I find walking directions put me on busy, unsafe streets, or make me take unsafe crossings. Didn't even think about the well lit part, but that is…
confidantlake on HNThis could really be a game-changer for me when we're allowed to travel again. I have a rare condition where a problem with brain metabolism screws up the signal to noise ratio…
AdmiralGinge on HN
Objections
Being well lit does not necessarily mean safer
From 1 comment
This is cool, however there is an implicit assertion here that better lit = safer. As far as I can tell this is questionable at best, a decent roundup of studies can be found…
cbdumas on HN
Risk of reflecting biases against poorer neighborhoods
From 1 comment
This gives me the same strong negative impression as the Citizen and Nextdoor apps. The idea makes sense in some abstract theoretical way, but in practice this will simply…
uoaei on HN
Filtering dark paths may remove reasonable routes with tradeoffs
From 1 comment
From the description of the backend: > Clean geojson to remove dark pathways. Doesn't this eliminate routes with tradeoffs? e.g., cutting through a small park or alleyway may not…
gradstudent on HN
Requests
Use crowd presence and street crime data, not just lighting
From 3 comments
A route where there are other people is more important than well lit. Eg a busy shopping street vs a well-lit back street.
ape4 on HNOut of several thousand hours (close to 10K?) of late-night walking in urban areas (such as from working into the wee hours, then walking home all the way across town), I've been…
neilv on HNWouldn’t a crime heatmap be more than sufficient?
PurpleFoxy on HN
Questions
How is lighting data sourced and is it measured?
From 2 comments
Coll but how you collect the source of light point in each roads? Are the application actively recording light intensity? Are they coming from open-data?
Cyber_squad on HNWhere does the data come from for defining sketch areas?
ilyas121 on HN
Alternatives named
Google Maps
From 2 comments
Ditto. Additionally, Google Maps makes me try to cross streets that technically shouldn't be crossed by pedestrians.
superimposition on HNGreat idea. I can certainly relate to the feeling of thinking "this is sketch" while following a google map route. Google should just build this feature in.
realjohng on HN
GraphHopper safe-route prototype
From 1 comment
In a team at a hackathon I implemented a similar thing (safe way to school) with GraphHopper: https://github.com/karussell/nordhopper (Disclaimer: I'm one of the GraphHopper…
karussell on HN