The survey event will start on Saturday, 5 August at 10.00 (weather permitting). To participate, you need a smartphone, a bicycle and a phone mount attached to the bicycle’s handlebars. Anyone can participate by downloading the free Crowdsorsa app and following its instructions.
In the Crowdsorsa app, the cycle paths in Helsinki are littered with virtual berries and fruit of monetary value, which players can collect on the map by recording video while cycling. Their value, on average over €3 per kilometre, will be paid to the participant’s bank account.
“The game ends when all 500 km of Helsinki’s network of main cycle paths have been surveyed. The event offers Helsinki residents a good opportunity to go outside, exercise and earn up to €20 an hour,” says Toni Paju, CEO of Crowdsorsa.
The videos recorded by the cyclists will go through quality control, after which a computer vision model will analyse them for pavement damage on the cycle paths. This will give the city precise data to support its decision-making on what repair measures budget should be allocated to.
“In addition to the city’s street improvement projects, the aim is to improve the cycle lane network with lighter measures, such as replacing pavement. We will use the condition data in maintenance to support the selection of sites for pavement replacement. Thanks in advance to all contributors,” says Noora Lindberg, Project Manager at the City of Helsinki.
Crowdsourced condition surveys of cycle paths have already been organised this summer at nine different localities in Finland. In 2021, Helsinki was the first city in the world to carry out a cycle path survey using a mobile game.