As the Paris Paralympics bring fresh scrutiny to the shortage of accessible services in France, RFI met the developers of a route-finding app aiming to help users navigate the capital no matter what their mobility.
Across a courtyard, through a glass door, up a couple of floors, out to the right and round a bit to the left: a navigation app would come in handy inside the town hall of Paris's 20th arrondissement in order to find Charlie Galle.
He's one of the brains behind StreetNav, an app designed to help people with disabilities move more easily around the city.
The need for such a service has been brought into sharper focus by the Paris Paralympics, which started with a spectacular opening ceremony in central Paris on 28 August.
In the wake of such pomp and circumstance, organisers of the Games have been at pains to ensure that accessibility remains in the spotlight well after the Paralympic bandwagon has left town.
Tailored itineraries
StreetNav, which was launched in May following work between Galle's outfit N-Vibe and its collaborators AudioSpot and Streetco, offers its 20,000 users the chance to select from eight profiles ranging from regular pedestrian to physically impaired to wheelchair user, or someone with a baby carriage or heavy suitcase.
Users can then use the app to search for an itinerary to their destination of choice, tailored to suit their mobility.
It signals obstacles in real-time to a visually impaired user or indicates an accessible route without changes in levels for a person in a wheelchair.
Paris seeks to make athletes' village an accessible 'paradise' for Paralympians
"N-Vibe is very much focused on tech development for the blind and visually impaired and writing routes from point A to point B very accurately," explained 35-year-old Galle.
"Streetco are very much into obstacle detection for people with motor disability and we thought that was a great match because with these two products, we could provide an app that would allow people to get a route that was precise thanks to us and avoid obstacles thanks to Streetco."
AudioSpot worked a lot with people with hearing disabilities, he says.
The partners' collaboration, says Galle, highlights the growing need to revitalise cities and towns for all members of society.
"It feels like there's been a shift in the last couple of years where there's actually a big focus on products for people with disability and to get them subsidised by the government and by the city authorities.
"I feel like this is a great opportunity right now to actually be in that field."
Users can also be a part of the action too. By downloading the Streetco application, they can signal permanent or temporary obstacles on roads and paths and add them to the database.
Paris transport falls short
In the prelude to the Paralympic Games, city and regional transport bosses lamented the state of the Paris metro system, with an estimated 350,000 people with disabilities expected to pass through the city during the 12 days of the the Paralympic Games.
On their travels, they will find only 29 of Paris’s 320 metro stations are fully or partially accessible to wheelchair users.
Paris metro accessibility a 'weak spot' ahead of Paralympics
Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), which oversees public transport in the greater Paris region, has acknowledged the deficiencies in its system, but says it is committed to providing accessible routes on other forms of transport – as well as promoting smartphone apps such as Ezymob to help navigate the city.
"Once we started working together it took a while to realise how we could actually make this work and also make sure that no one was stepping on anyone's toes," Galle added. "It's difficult sometimes to collaborate with other people."
But egos were sublimated in pursuit of inclusion and more accessible facilities.
Post-Paralympic legacy?
Away from the world of tech, IDFM says all stations on new metro lines will be accessible to wheelchairs and new trains will be easier to board.
Paris city chiefs say they will continue their drive to create "enhanced accessibility areas" to ensure shops and businesses are more welcoming to people with disabilities.
"This is definitely something that the city of Paris wants to carry on after the Olympics," Galle added.
And for StreetNav, there are plans for global expansion.
"We're already in talks with other cities in the Netherlands, so obviously we feel like there's definitely a great potential for other places," Galle told RFI.
"Accessibility is definitely something that is getting a lot of traction and it's a good time to be in that field right now. That's great for us as app developers, but also for people with disabilities."
