An overview of the project, the idea behind it, and how the app works.
Let's be honest: everyone loves exploring new, unfamiliar places. Getting out, discovering something new, and having a great, carefree time. That's exactly what people in wheelchairs or with mobility impairments wish for too – but the reality of everyday life is usually anything but carefree.
When planning a trip or a weekend outing, practical questions immediately arise: Does the restaurant have a step-free entrance? Is there an accessible toilet with grab rails? And what about a wide disabled parking space right at the entrance – or at least somewhere nearby? And if so: exactly where?
These essential questions are unfortunately very difficult to answer online. That's precisely why "Accessible Places" was created. The web app aims to end the tedious search for wheelchair-relevant information across countless different websites. And it answers what is perhaps the most important question of all: how reliable is the information really?
When we're out and about, our fingers instinctively reach for Google Maps, Bing Maps or Apple Maps. Great for navigation, but they quickly fall short when it comes to accessibility. Structured information is often nowhere to be found, and dedicated filters for wheelchair users are almost entirely absent. Instead, you have to wade through reviews, because a label like "Wheelchair accessible: Yes" is often far too vague or simply outdated in practice. In the worst case, you end up facing an insurmountable step.
Accessible Places takes a different approach. Rather than relying on a single, often incomplete source, the platform merges data from various specialists live and in real time. When you search, the site quietly pulls from sources like OpenStreetMap, accessibility.cloud (which includes the well-known Wheelmap.org data), and Ginto with specific information for Switzerland. Google Maps data can optionally be added as a supplement – but only ever as enrichment, never as the sole source to blindly rely on.
"Wheelchair users don't need vague assumptions – they need reliable facts."
With Accessible Places, I wanted to create a tool that bundles the best data sources and immediately shows users how reliable the current information is – without barriers, without cost, and without data collection in the background.
The primary goal of Accessible Places is to provide the shortest path to the right information, whatever the situation. The app offers three intuitive search modes:
Nearby
Perfect for spontaneous decisions on the go. The app automatically detects your smartphone's location (with permission) and instantly shows the nearest accessible restaurants, cafés or cinemas in your immediate area.
Explore
Ideal for planning holidays or day trips in advance. Simply enter your destination and a category (e.g. hotel or theatre). The best results are displayed clearly in a list or visually on a map.
Find a Place
Targeted search for a specific venue. If you want to know about the accessibility of a particular attraction, museum or bar, simply enter the name and immediately get all available details about the entrance, toilet and parking.
A central element that immediately catches the eye is the traffic light system combined with a "reliability score". These color codes appear both in the search results and as small circles in the map view. There's a key, innovative insight here: the colors primarily indicate not whether a place is accessible, but how reliable the underlying data currently is.
Red does not automatically mean the place is inaccessible. It simply means the data is currently incomplete or uncertain (e.g. only unverified baseline data from Google Maps is available).
Yellow indicates a solid, reasonably good and plausible data basis.
Green means the information is highly reliable and has typically been manually checked and verified by the community (e.g. Wheelmap users). Manually verified entries are also highlighted with a special badge.
This honest approach prevents nasty surprises on arrival. You immediately know when you can trust the app's data completely – and when it's worth making a quick call to the venue just to be sure.
Accessible Places is a private, non-commercial hobby project. It's completely free, requires no registration or personal data, and is 100% ad-free.
The platform already works comprehensively across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Whether searching for an accessible hotel in central Berlin, a cosy café in Vienna or an ice cream parlour in Zurich – the platform helps you find the best available accessibility information with minimal effort. Users can also submit feedback or report issues instantly via an integrated form.
You don't need to visit the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to get the app. Since Accessible Places is built as a modern Progressive Web App (PWA), it can be installed directly from your mobile browser:
iPhone (Safari): Tap the Share icon at the bottom (the square with the upward arrow) and choose "Add to Home Screen".
Android (Chrome): Tap the three-dot menu in the top right and choose "Install app" or "Add to Home Screen".
Accessible Places then appears on your home screen as a fully-featured app, complete with its own icon and a clean fullscreen mode without browser bars.
All displayed information is based on the open databases of our strong partner websites. Without these outstanding open-data projects, this service would not be possible at all. A very personal thank-you goes to the respective communities and teams for providing the necessary interfaces and access.
The data in Accessible Places comes from the following sources:
OpenStreetMap
The "Wikipedia of World Maps". It not only forms the visual foundation for all the map content, but also contributes valuable geographic base data and important first accessibility markers (e.g. for step-free entrances) through a worldwide community. openstreetmap.org
Accessibility-Cloud
A global network by Sozialhelden e.V. that consolidates accessibility data worldwide. Through this cloud, the countless manually verified entries from the well-known platform Wheelmap.org flow into the app in real time. Particularly sustainable: many of the records captured there ultimately flow back directly into OpenStreetMap, continuously improving the free world map project for everyone. accessibility.cloud
Ginto
The absolute specialist in accessibility, with a strong focus on Switzerland and Austria. Ginto enables institutions and communities to capture and publish detailed accessibility information (such as exact door widths or gradients), which massively improves data quality across the DACH region. about.ginto.guide
Simple, independent, and genuinely useful: Accessible Places