An open map for wheelchair-accessible places.

Wheelmap.org is the most extensive international open online map for wheelchair-accessible places. You can find the app on the web, or download it for iOS and for Android.

If you have a mobility impairment, use a wheelchair, or are a parent with a stroller, it answers a simple question about a physical place: Can I get in?

Besides providing info about 2.4M places, anyone can rate sites at home (‘armchair mapping’) or in coordinated community events (‘mapathons’). Wheelmap has a simple traffic light system for accessibility but allows to enter intricate details – for example, does a specific toilet have grab bars? How many steps are at the entrance, and how high are they?

Wheelmap has a Pro feature for holding mapathons and creating local mapping communities. It is used by several organizations and local governments around the world.

Behind the scenes, Wheelmap’s backend is accessibility.cloud, an exchange platform for real-world accessibility data. Wheelmap uses A11yJSON internally – the world’s first ubiquitous data standard for describing physical accessibility.

The project is run by Sozialhelden e.V., a German non-profit, and has been around for more than ten years. It’s in active development and continuously improved.

I’m CTO at Sozialhelden e.V., and I work with a fantastic team that develops Wheelmap further.

Wheelmap has regularly been featured in Apple’s App Store, and has a story about its inception.