Automated framework for extracting sidewalk dimensions from images using deep learning

State and local governments are required by federal and state laws to provide and maintain accessibility on their sidewalks and pedestrian facilities. They need to conduct and frequently update self-evaluation to assess the compliance of their sidewalks and pedestrian facilities with accessibility requirements and identify any barriers that limit or deny access for people with disabilities to public programs, services, or activities. This paper presents the development of an automated framework that is capable of (1) providing a cost-effective and practical methodology for conducting self-evaluations using sidewalk images, (2) creating 3D models of existing sidewalks that can be used in analyzing their conditions, and (3) automatically extracting sidewalk dimensions and geometry from sidewalk input images. A case study of a small pedestrian network that includes 830 m of sidewalks was analyzed to test the framework performance and demonstrate its novel and practical capabilities.