Case Study: Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) achieves improved barrier-free mobility through crowdsourced station imagery with Mapillary

Increasing mobility by crowdsourcing images from SBB train stations in Switzerland

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) sought to improve barrier-free mobility for passengers with reduced mobility by addressing the lack of visual information about station layouts, ramps, elevators and construction. As part of the ViaStaziun innovation project they launched a public website (viastaziun.ch) to crowdsource photos from users and selected Mapillary as the image backend to store and share station photos.

Mapillary powers the platform’s shared-image infrastructure, letting travelers upload and access photos of station entries, platforms and obstacles. Early results include positive user feedback and better trip preparedness for people with reduced mobility, while SBB continues to tackle limited nationwide coverage — growing the photo pool and user participation remains the main focus to increase the service’s measurable reach.

Swiss Federal Railways

Christian Trachsel

Open Data Responsible