davis_square | Obscure Stairways and Ramps of Somerville

ron_newman posting in

A few weeks ago, I created this Google Map:

Obscure Stairways and Ramps of Somerville

It shows various stairways and ramps that pedestrians can use to walk between places that aren't directly connected by streets. If you know a Somerville stairway or ramp that isn't on my map, please comment here and I'll try to add it.

(Also, if someone can show me how to zoom the map out and have Google Maps save that state, I'd appreciate it.)

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From:

firstfrost.livejournal.com

There are (newly added!) steps down from Puritan Rd onto the park marked "Grimmons". (From above, the map looks like it's a park connecting the two streets anyway, but there's actually a bit of a drop-off.)

From:

ron_newman

Thanks, I'll take a look there this week.

Edit: Looks beautiful! I just added it to the map.

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 06:17 pm (UTC)

From:

joylewis.livejournal.com

There are steps that connect Washington Terrace to Munroe St in Union Square. It's right where Washington Terrace makes that sharp right and the steps are to the left of the private home.

From:

ron_newman

Good find! I'll take a look there and add it soon.

Edit: I've now added it, but with a caution about the poor crumbling condition of these steps, and the lack of any railing on the upper stairway.

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 06:15 pm (UTC)

From:

cnoocy

Have you let the Google Maps team know about this? It seems like it could be useful for providing walking directions.

From:

ron_newman

No, who should I e-mail there?

From:

miss-chance.livejournal.com

It might be a poor idea to add it to walking directions. Without a way to tag them as stairs a mobility-impaired person could be lead seriously astray by the walking directions and potentially have to back-track a long way.

I like the map as it is, though, it's a seriously cool thing to keep track of on a google-map... just not to be tangled up into directions, maybe.

From:

ron_newman

Good point. I wonder how Google walking directions deal with the many stair streets of Pittsburgh, for instance? (Or, closer to home, Brookline?)

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 02:14 am (UTC)

From:

fredrickegerman.livejournal.com

Google maps certainly knows about the stairs from Somerville Ave under the tracks; I filed a bug against bike directions suggesting it wasn't a very quick bike route.

From:

en-ki.livejournal.com

It's arguably better than Park St or waiting for the Mossland light, though.

From:

fredrickegerman.livejournal.com

I suggested they count this route as taking a minute or two longer, though, which might in fact still make it a viable alternate route depending on where you're going.

I can ride a pretty long way in that amount of time, personally, so I'd argue your point in my case. But I won't attempt to generalize. :-)

From:

squirrelitude

If there is a road or path that is not on the map, use the "report a problem" link in the sidebar. Make sure to note whether it is drivable, walkable, or bikeable. They'll email you first with an acknowledgement, second with an "approved" message (almost certainly), and third, much later, with a "done" message.

I got a pedestrian bridge in Medford and the Spy Pond walking trail added that way.

From:

cnoocy

Thanks! I had no idea how to answer that question.

From:

fredrickegerman.livejournal.com

This.

Adding a link to Street View if the stairs are visible seems to help as well.

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

Nice! There's one here (http://bit.ly/aCstSE), though it doesn't really connect poorly-connected places. (More like otherwise well-connected non-places.)

This is a cool idea — I hope it catches on. I recently sent google a notice that they were missing one of the major pedestrian paths around harvard yard, and for the first time, I actually got a response from them a couple days later.

One thing that would be additionally useful to me would be knowing which of these are bike-accessible. For instance, the one behind Matingon High is often blocked by a chain that least forces you to get off your bike and lift it over.

From:

ron_newman

Thanks, I'll take a look at that one too. Whose parking lot is it?

Most of the places on my map are stairs, which are not bike-accessible unless you want to carry your bike. The Sacramento Street underpass has ramps, but they have sharp turns and are really only intended for strollers, shopping carts, and wheelchairs.

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 01:46 am (UTC)

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

I have no idea — it seems very deserted, but I assume the owner must at least have signed off to let someone tow there, because I've only seen it empty. Also, I guess it's not full of trash, so someone is paying to have it swept occasionally.

From:

ron_newman

In the Google street view that you linked to, the parking lot is blocked from the street by a chain.

In order to legally tow cars, the lot owner needs to post signs saying where the cars are being towed to and how to reach the tow company.

I wonder if this was the employee-only lot for Star Market back when it was open?

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 02:02 am (UTC)

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

Oh, I didn't notice the chain. Probably because I was (go figure) on foot. I guess not many people will disregard that.

From:

ron_newman

I just rode by there this morning. There's now a high chain-link fence along Sewall Street next to this lot, with a deliberate opening just high and wide enough for pedestrians to enter. No cars were parked in the lot.

Scratch that -- after looking carefully at your StreetView and at the place I actually visited, I now realize there are two such staircases, from different lower parking lots on Sewall Street up to the big former Star Market lot.

One of them has the low fence and chain that you showed me. The other has a very high fence with an opening for people to walk through. Bizarre. I've now put both of them on my map.

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 11:23 pm (UTC)

From:

boblothrope.livejournal.com

"In order to legally tow cars, the lot owner needs to post signs saying where the cars are being towed to and how to reach the tow company."

Close, but not exactly. MGL 266-120D (http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/266-120d.htm) says property owners must post notice (or tell you directly) that parking is forbidden, and must tell the local police before they tow a car, but it doesn't say the posted notice has to say how to contact the towing company.

From:

ericjay.livejournal.com

There's a cut-through at the end of Kent Court that leads to the Star Market parking lot here (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108999889085596433501.000484c468757a2fa9875&layer=c&cbll=42.3831,-71.111209&panoid=XLTf1wWC9c61XCT-2zmr6g&cbp=12,287.26,,0,5&ll=42.383209,-71.111383&spn=0,0.001206&t=h&z=20)

From:

ron_newman

I used to live a block from that, and it was very convenient. Maybe I should add "paths" to my map, since that isn't a stairway or ramp.

There's another such back entrance to the Johnny's Foodmaster lot on Beacon Street.

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 01:45 am (UTC)

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

A source for the miscellaneous non-obscure routes between streets and paths would also have been useful to me on many occasions. This is additionally useful though — google is incrementally improving on that stuff, but they're unlikely to add staircases on presumably private property like the one I noted above.

From:

ron_newman

I've added the Kent Court gate to my map, and will add the Johnny's Foodmaster one as soon as I get a chance to ride over and make sure it's still there.

Edit: The Johnnie's Foodmaster entrance from Harold Street is now on the map too.

Edited Date: 2010-05-20 07:04 pm (UTC)

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

I wonder whether the empty donut of pedestrian cut-throughs around the Tufts campus is due to observation bias or to the need to shut down unofficial routes around a large population of people who don't hesitate to take them.

(Of course, the railroad is adequate to explain their absence near the northeast border.)

From:

ron_newman

If you can identify some of these cut-throughs (some of which may be stairs or ramps), I'll be glad to add them to my map.

Some paved paths lead up to campus from Powder House Boulevard. One of them is labelled 'Latin Way' on Google Maps.

Edited Date: 2010-05-17 02:49 am (UTC)

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

Oh, part of my point was that although I live in the aforementioned area, and have spend a lot of time around here, I don't know of any useful cut-throughs. (Ones that are on the actual campus are different, since they're explicitly for student use.)

From:

ron_newman

Here's one you might already know about: from Packard Ave. to Cameron Ave., adjoining the (closed) Powder House Community School and Tufts Administration Building.

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

Oh, yeah. I think the first time I went along that one I was helping someone move a few blocks and not paying any attention. I've used it a lot since then, but I could totally see not noticing it.

From:

ron_newman

And it's now on my map too.

From:

http://users.livejournal.com/cgull_/

I've got obscure for you:

Near Sullivan Square, off the end of Clinton Place, there's a little commercial parking lot. There's a stair up from there to Cambridge St.

(I found this one the other day by bicycle, getting a bit lost on my way from Assembly Square to Cambridge St.)

There's also a stair from E. Albion St. to Leyden St, which I actually carried my bike up once.

Like the Matignon School ramp, there's also a cut-through from the bottom of Victoria St to the church and the Ecole Bilingue just below.

I'll also point out the cut-through from Hicks Ave. to Hicks Ave. in Meffa by the Columbus School, which is actually generally useful to the two-footed and two-wheeled populace.

From:

motive-nuance.livejournal.com

Oh yes, the church route between Victoria and Hooker is great. Hicks Ave., however, emerges onto a road that requires more bike ninja-style bluff and dare than I can muster.

And wow, that staircase (http://bit.ly/d3bGVw) looks like it belongs in the dictionary next to "sketchy shortcut". (Nice.)

From:

adrian-turtle.livejournal.com

What's sketchy about the staircase? It doesn't look private. Is it unstable? (I can't tell from the picture.)

It's not in Somerville, so it might not be relevant to this project, but there's a useful staircase between the Arlington Trader Joe's and the Minuteman Bikeway. I can't figure out how to get Google Maps to show the back of the parking lot, to look at the stairway. A couple of blocks away (in the direction of Arlington Center) there's an unmarked accessible pass-through from the bikeway, to the parking lot of Sunrise Assisted Living, to Mass Ave.

From:

ron_newman

I just now put a few nearby places in Cambridge and Medford on my map, but Arlington Heights is too far away from Somerville. Perhaps you or someone else here can create a similar map for Arlington?

From:

boblothrope.livejournal.com

There's a map of the entrances to the Minuteman Bikeway here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=12&msid=103227829863094406515.00000111c7a20b0fec49f&msa=0

From:

ron_newman

I don't understand why E. Albion St. is totally fenced off at the Somerville-Medford line -- and why nobody has cut a hole in that fence so that people can walk there.

Edit: I added the LACK of connection at that location to the map, with this symbol:

.
You'll find that symbol in a few other places too, where people might expect to be able to walk, but can't because of barriers.

Edited Date: 2010-05-20 07:05 pm (UTC)

From:

ron_newman

I've now put all these locations onto the map.

From:

chenoameg.livejournal.com

Get the map in the state you want it, and then click the "link" button to get a URL for that state.

For example, this is a link to a zoomed out map only version (not satellite):
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108999889085596433501.000484c468757a2fa9875&ll=42.391579,-71.107121&spn=0.034801,0.058622&z=14

From:

ron_newman

but how do I save it in that state, so that any time someone else Googles for "Obscure Stairways of Somerville" and finds my named map, it is properly zoomed out?

From:

litia2005.livejournal.com

Good places where people can get mugged? Assuming the baddies knew about them... Which now they do... Cool, otherwise.

From:

philipph.livejournal.com

I wonder if there's some way of getting independent efforts to map different towns eventually collected into one big map.
While I can understand not wanting to go too far afield with the markings (even though having more of Cambridge would be neat, then again, other neighboring towns, too), being able to overlay multiple maps like this for an overall view would be very cool.

From:

ethanfield.livejournal.com

There is a gap in a fence between Magnus Ave and Dimick Street that many local pedestrians use. It does involve walking down someone's driveway. It's not at all accessible, and doesn't really work for bikes.

From:

ron_newman

Would you like to add this to the map? I can add you as a 'collaborator' which allows you to do this.
Edit 5/20/10: I added it, with a caution about its unsuitability for bikes and other wheeled traffic.

The Washington Terrace stairway also involves walking down what looks like a private driveway at the Munroe Street end. The two cut-throughs from Highland Ave. to Hudson Street appear to come out on private driveways or alleys on the Hudson Street side.

Edit: Also in the same neighborhood, is there a cut through from Beacon Terrace to Caldwell Ave? It looks like there might be one in the Google Maps satellite view, but I can't tell for sure (and I don't want to go out in the rain today to find out). No, there isn't. A chain-link fence entirely blocks the end of Caldwell Ave, and many bicycles are locked to or near that fence.

Edited Date: 2010-05-20 03:17 pm (UTC)

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