Start up companies Go Jauntly and Blubel have come up with clever navigation solutions to make walking and cycling more attractive.

 

Innovative mobile applications and data driven technologies could support ambitions to increase active travel in London and other urban centres by making it easier, safer and more pleasant to walk and cycle.

 

Analysis from Transport for London indicates that if every Londoner walked or cycled for 20 minutes a day, the NHS would save £1.7Bn in treatment costs for conditions including heart disease, diabetes and depression over the next 25 years.

 

However current estimates suggest that only 34% of those living in the capital manage to do so on any given day.

 

Change could be on the horizon, though, with a number of innovative start up companies having sprung up in London with products aimed at reducing some of the barriers to active travel.

 

One such organisation is Go Jauntly, which has developed a walking app that makes it easy for people to find pleasant commuting or leisure routes that are off the beaten track, taking in green spaces and other hidden places of interest along the way.

 

“There are so many routes out there that people don’t realise are walkable,” comments the firm’s co-founder Hana Sutch. For example she says some people travelling between Shoreditch and Liverpool Street take the Tube despite the fact it can be walked in 10 minutes.

 

The app, which began to be trialled in May, maps a user’s location and currently allows them to choose from over 100 walking routes in London. Some of these have been curated by the developers and others shared by its user base.

 

“We are trying to encourage city dwellers to get out and about and to feel the health and wellness benefits of walking,” Hana adds. “For us it’s not just about getting from A to B but also enjoying the journey and having new experiences.”

 

Go Jauntly is one of around 600 apps in the capital that make use of open data from Transport for London to improve journeys for travellers. The app also provides an indication of current air pollution levels in the city and integrates data about the walking times between different railway and Tube stations.

 

Data about congestion pinch points on the Tube has also been analysed and in particularly crowded locations the developer has looked to provide alternative above ground walking routes.

Another start up company with ambitions to boost active travel in cities is Blubel – a cycling navigator that draws in ‘community wisdom’ in order to find the safest routes.

 

The technology is essentially a satnav in a bicycle bell, with a ‘clock face’ of 12 LEDs to point users in the right direction. Flashing and audible alerts advise when a turn is coming up.

The device is connected to a smartphone app via Bluetooth to allow the developer to collect data about the journeys its users are making. “A lot of cycling apps try to reduce the number of turns you have to make, but that often leads you to the busiest routes,” comments Blubel chief executive Sasha Afanasieva.

 

“Our device helps to take you off the busy roads without getting lost. We believe that will make it easier and safer to cycle, especially for novices.”

 

She adds: “Every journey the user makes is helping us to understand how people are cycling so we can come up with better routing.”

 

Sensors in the device can detect if a user has, for example, encountered a pothole or a bump. Ringing the bell also sends a notification to the app, prompting users to explain why they did so. This data can be mapped and used to deliver safer routes.

 

The technology went on sale recently after the developer took part in an innovation programme run by start up ‘accelerator’ Nitrous in conjunction with Transport for London this summer.