948 Responses. One Map. A Clearer Picture of Where Cycling Problems Begin.
Arup used MapTalk to collect 948 location-based responses about cycling issues in The Hague. By combining local experience with technical analysis, the project turned everyday observations into practical insight for better mobility solutions.
Cycling issues are easy to describe in general terms: unsafe crossings, confusing routes, congestion, or conflict between cyclists, pedestrians and cars. The real challenge is knowing where those problems actually happen and why people experience them there.
That was the question facing Arup in The Hague. Rather than relying only on technical analysis, the consultancy used MapTalk to involve residents directly and collect location-based feedback about where they experienced cycling nuisance, what they believed caused it and what solutions they wanted to see.
“Cycling is a problem here” is not enough. The location changes everything.
A general complaint can be useful, but it still leaves project teams interpreting what the resident actually means. With MapTalk, participants could select a specific location on the map and explain the issue there. That turned broad concerns into spatially anchored input that Arup could analyse alongside its technical work.
The result was far more practical. Instead of a list of disconnected comments, the project team could see where problems clustered, which locations repeatedly came up and what residents were experiencing in those places.
When 948 people point to the map, patterns stop being anecdotal.
The project received 948 responses through MapTalk. Because residents could select the exact location they wanted to comment on, the input became much more specific and easier to interpret.
Participation at this scale does more than generate engagement. It creates a richer picture of how infrastructure performs in everyday life. One person may flag an awkward junction, another may describe poor visibility, and others may identify the same location for different reasons. When those responses appear together spatially, individual experiences begin to reveal patterns.
Local knowledge becomes much more powerful when you can see where it repeats.
Technical models explain the network. Residents explain how it feels to use it.
Arup combined resident input with technical analyses and traffic models to develop measures ranging from infrastructure changes to behavioural interventions.
Technical data can show how a transport network is designed and how traffic moves through it, while residents contribute something different: the daily experience of actually using those streets. When both perspectives are brought together, project teams can move beyond assumptions and build solutions around a clearer understanding of the problem.
Participation improved more than support. It improved the solution itself.
Participation is often framed as something projects need in order to create acceptance. This case shows another value: better input can lead to better design decisions.
By incorporating local knowledge into its technical analysis, Arup gained practical information that would have been difficult to capture through modelling alone. The people using a street every day notice things a model may never experience. The strongest planning decisions make room for both.
What could your transport project learn if residents could point directly to the problem?
MapTalk helps consultancies and project teams collect structured, location-based feedback and combine local knowledge with professional analysis.