Stadium accessibility maps

Latlong.ai has published stadium maps that rank venues by how fast fans can reach them, not by how many seats they contain. (x.com) The company sells location-analysis tools and says its platform includes distance-matrix, driving-directions and route-optimization application programming interfaces, the plumbing used to turn roads and transit links into travel-time maps. (latlong.ai) (apihub.latlong.ai) Those maps are built on a simple idea: a 30-minute catchment is the area a person can actually reach in 30 minutes on a street network, not a circle drawn around a point. Esri’s service-area documentation describes the same method as calculating reach along real roads, with travel time changing by mode and traffic. (developers.arcgis.com) (doc.arcgis.com) That approach shifts stadium analysis away from raw capacity, the headline number most venues advertise, toward access. FIFA’s stadium guidelines say site selection must account for how spectators arrive, circulate and depart, and its accessibility guidance says planning should cover the “entire spectator journey,” from parking or public transport to the seating bowl. (inside.fifa.com) (publications.fifa.com 1) (publications.fifa.com 2) Transport planners have made the same argument for years. An Esri paper on transit catchment analysis says simple circular buffers overstate who can actually reach a stop, while the International Federation of Pedestrians says straight-line catchments consistently overestimate access to public transport. (proceedings.esri.com) (ifpedestrians.org) For teams, sponsors and venue operators, that changes what a “big market” looks like. A smaller stadium on a dense rail and road network can draw from a larger practical audience than a bigger venue that is harder to reach on a weeknight. (developers.arcgis.com) (basemap.co.uk) The same logic applies on event day inside the gate. The United States Department of Justice’s stadium guidance says wheelchair seating must sit on an accessible route connected to parking and transportation areas, while the Sports Grounds Safety Authority’s Accessible Stadia guide lists transport, access, circulation and signage as core design issues. (archive.ada.gov) (sgsa.org.uk) Big-event organizers now model these questions well beyond the building footprint. An ArcGIS StoryMap on Los Angeles 2028 venues uses 30-minute commute catchments around 21 venues, and Tokyo 2020’s transport plan said spectator transport had to be safe, efficient, reliable, sustainable and accessible. (storymaps.arcgis.com) (library.olympics.com) Latlong’s maps package that planning logic into a format marketers can read at a glance: not just where a stadium sits, but who can realistically get there. In venue economics, the map around the stadium can matter as much as the seats inside it. (x.com) (latlong.ai)