How cities can harness innovation to give residents equitable experiences
According to the CDC, up to one in four adults in the United States has some form of disability. Yet, when many public recreation facilities and activities were originally established, accessibility wasn’t under consideration.
A recent survey of 3,000 U.S. adults conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton found that only 39% of respondents view trips to outdoor-centric locations as an accessible travel option. To plan trips and travel with confidence, it is often a difficult and daunting task to find relevant information about whether a particular activity or location is suitable for their needs. Public land agencies have listed this issue as a high priority and continue to work on solutions, but collecting, organizing, and keeping the information current and easily searchable is a complex and cumbersome effort.
To ensure every citizen can enjoy these spaces with confidence and ease, leaders must explore innovative solutions to address the existing barriers to accessibility. The keys to dismantling these barriers are examining the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities in accessing public parks and recreation facilities, and understanding how technology like AI can play a pivotal role in overcoming these obstacles.
Key Barriers To Accessibility In The Outdoors
Accessibility in the recreation space is not only about physical infrastructure or physical mobility; it's about ensuring that everyone, regardless of abilities, can fully participate and benefit. Key to supporting this endeavor is understanding that accessibility encompasses a wide range of disabilities and neurodiversity, and decision-makers must recognize that everyone has unique needs, sensory triggers, masking practices, mobility challenges, and social/bodily behaviors. Thus, it can feel overwhelming to assess how best to support and ensure not only access but also accessibility to outdoor recreation.
Through my own personal experience working in recreation on public lands and as part of efforts with organizations focused on disabilities, I feel the parks sector can leverage the age of AI, in which we are currently living, and put data to work for good to help provide equitable experiences for all. Doing so requires prioritizing and investing in scalable, actionable data collection, and leveraging AI to democratize and personalize that information.
Prioritize Scalable, Standardized Data To Inform Decision-making
When planning visits to public lands and participating in recreational activities, access to detailed, contextual information to create data-enabled, personalized recommendations is essential. Outdoor activities like hiking or camping are unique experiences, and people with disabilities may have additional needs. To join these experiences with confidence, they require specific (and contextual) information.
For instance, an individual may consider a multitude of factors like the layout of campsites, proximity to amenities, and environmental conditions. Details such as the height of picnic tables or the location of paved paths leading to ramps at a park’s boat dock may be integral in order to have an enjoyable experience.
A lack of comprehensive data specific to an individual’s diverse needs can hinder one’s confidence in choosing suitable options. Booz Allen’s survey underscores this: for respondents with a disability or for those traveling with someone with a disability, 44% say they would be more likely to choose a national park, national forest, or other federal recreation site if more information were available online about the expected level of accessibility.
To this end, it is clear parks staff must prioritize and invest in gathering, collecting, and standardizing data relevant to a recreation space; however, many locations and recreation agencies work with limited resources and have multiple competing priorities, hindering their ability to collect and manage the type of detailed data needed to truly and effectively support the wide breadth of visitors’ needs—especially those looking for detailed information on accessibility.
To aid in this data-scaling challenge, the federal government established a Federal Camping Data Standard (FCDS), a robust structure that includes many data fields related to accessibility. The FCDS is a huge step forward, but the vast amount of data needed to comprehensively complete this standard is simply overwhelming. While efforts have been made to collect detailed campground and campsite data, the amount and specificity of the required data make the process time-consuming and resource-intensive.
Moreover, it is essential that the information provided is not only accurate but also relevant to a diverse audience; after it is collected, the data must be presented in a manner that is intuitive and meaningful for end-users, so they can make informed and confident decisions. For example, many campgrounds offer accessible campsites, but while a campsite may be labeled online as accessible, this designation may not provide sufficient information to fully address suitability for individuals with diverse needs. It may fail to identify information about other parts of the campground such as access paths to a particular amenity or water source. While this might be a slight inconvenience for some visitors, disabled individuals may arrive at a site only to find that the facilities are unusable. This may extend beyond frustration and disappointment, potentially leading to a condition that makes their stay impossible.
Transform Data Into Actionable Recommendations With AI
AI is becoming a part of everything in our world, and when paired with people and clear, standardized data, this technology can achieve its greatest outputs and impact. It can also assist in disseminating and creating actionable, critical information for individuals with specific accessibility needs who are planning recreational experiences.
Consumer feedback from Booz Allen’s survey is aligned with this approach, as an overwhelming 84% of respondents agree technology like AI can create a more accessible public lands experience for visitors. Furthermore, 40% believe in the power of crowdsourcing (via mobile apps, etc.) to inform accessibility accommodations and recommendations, highlighting that the ability to find clear, complete information when searching for recreational opportunities is paramount.
One key development in using AI to better provide information to those seeking accessible outdoor adventures is the use of natural-language processing enabled by AI. Natural-language search can enable users to specify their desired trip attributes through a single input field, allowing more context (like ages, specific disabilities, accessibility needs, desired locations, etc.) and detail beyond only keywords.
For instance, a search for "Accessible tent camping near Washington DC for 6 people for August 14-16" will yield search results with filters related to ADA compliance, location, dates, and campsite type/size. But it will not tell a user if the site is appropriate for someone with a particular type of disability, and it may exclude campsites that might be appropriate but may not be fully ADA-compliant.
To help accelerate the development of such AI-powered solutions, clear and consistent data need to be collected and made available in the public domain. This will enable greater trust and transparency, and open the problem set to those eager to solve it and have their voice and needs represented, further opening the outdoors to all regardless of disability.
A Call To Action
As a leader in developing solutions that harness the power of AI to improve recreation management, Booz Allen is focused on creating technology for good and leveraging crowdsourcing and real-time data to inform its responsive toolkit. With this technology in development, visitors and land managers will be able to make better-informed decisions through data-enabled updates powered by innovative platforms that house critical, contextual accessibility information from campgrounds and campsites.
By leveraging the data gathered and made actionable via AI, Booz Allen hopes to help take a major step forward in enhancing accessibility within outdoor recreational spaces, helping all visitors easily find outdoor recreation opportunities that best fit their needs.
Outdoor recreation has the power to unite communities, making it a universally supported endeavor. Whether it's through experiential-education programs or simply enjoying nature, outdoor activities have a profound impact on individuals' well-being.
Let's harness the power of technology to break down barriers and ensure equitable access to parks and recreation for all. Let's make accessibility a priority and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience the joy of the great outdoors.
