Tired of steep climbs on your walks or bike rides? Flatten SF, a new tool for San Francisco, calculates routes that avoid the city's steepest hills, making your journey much easier.
Finally, a solution to those notorious steep hills for walkers and cyclists! In San Francisco, a city famous for its challenging inclines, a new tool called Flatten SF is changing the game. What this means for you is an end to grueling journeys and the start of more enjoyable, easier experiences on your feet or bike.
Flatten SF works right in your browser, utilizing highly accurate elevation data collected by lidar technology from the USGS 3D Elevation program, combined with street graphs from Overture and OpenStreetMap. The tool analyzes over 160,000 street segments in San Francisco to help you find optimal paths.
But what makes it stand out? Flatten SF doesn't just look for the shortest route. Instead, it employs what's known as «multi-objective routing». This means it doesn't just give you one «best» path based on a single criterion (like distance). Instead, it provides a complete set of routes that offer the best balance between two important criteria: total distance and accumulated ascent. In simpler terms, it seeks out routes where no other path simultaneously outperforms it on both distance and climb.
The application assigns a cost to climbing; every foot of ascent is treated as if you've walked 200 feet. Beyond a certain limit, a route might not be worth the effort. It also considers accumulated ascent, not just the net difference between your start and end points. This is crucial because it ensures streets with multiple ups and downs aren't underestimated. A path that looks 'flat' from start to finish might actually be full of small, energy-draining climbs. By using this smart approach, Flatten SF delivers routes that let you enjoy San Francisco's beauty without being exhausted by its famous hills. It's an innovative tech solution making city navigation simpler and more comfortable for everyone.
Flatten SF works right in your browser, utilizing highly accurate elevation data collected by lidar technology from the USGS 3D Elevation program, combined with street graphs from Overture and OpenStreetMap. The tool analyzes over 160,000 street segments in San Francisco to help you find optimal paths.
But what makes it stand out? Flatten SF doesn't just look for the shortest route. Instead, it employs what's known as «multi-objective routing». This means it doesn't just give you one «best» path based on a single criterion (like distance). Instead, it provides a complete set of routes that offer the best balance between two important criteria: total distance and accumulated ascent. In simpler terms, it seeks out routes where no other path simultaneously outperforms it on both distance and climb.
The application assigns a cost to climbing; every foot of ascent is treated as if you've walked 200 feet. Beyond a certain limit, a route might not be worth the effort. It also considers accumulated ascent, not just the net difference between your start and end points. This is crucial because it ensures streets with multiple ups and downs aren't underestimated. A path that looks 'flat' from start to finish might actually be full of small, energy-draining climbs. By using this smart approach, Flatten SF delivers routes that let you enjoy San Francisco's beauty without being exhausted by its famous hills. It's an innovative tech solution making city navigation simpler and more comfortable for everyone.
