Schoten Schokt: Mapping Road Quality with Smartphone Sensors
How a custom mobile Android app using built-in 3-axis accelerometers turns everyday bike rides into actionable infrastructure data for smoother, safer cycling paths.
"Council Member Launches 'Schoten Schokt' App to Map Bike Path Quality"
Featured in national press for combining political policy with hands-on citizen tech to give local cyclists a voice.
Combining Engineering & Green Mobility
In the spirit of Schoten’s 100-year history with the iconic Scheldeprijs race, Schoten Schokt crowd-sources vibration data from real cyclists to highlight potholes, dangerous bumps, and deteriorating bike lanes.
workspace_premium 100 Years of Cycling in Schoten
Schoten is synonymous with bicycle racing as the proud home of the finish line for the historic Scheldeprijs. But while professional cyclists enjoy smooth tarmac during race day, local residents navigate varying road conditions during their daily commutes.
To bridge the gap between passion for cycling and practical municipal infrastructure, I developed Schoten Schokt — a lightweight Android application designed to measure, map, and visualize surface quality across the entire municipality.
How Schoten Schokt Works
1. Mount & Setup
Secure your smartphone to your bicycle handlebars using a standard phone mount. Launch the app and tap START before taking off.
2. Ride & Measure
Ride as you normally would. The app reads the phone’s 3-axis (X, Y, Z) accelerometers in real-time to detect shocks, vibrations, and severe bumps.
3. Generate Heatmaps
Once stopped, click Generate Heatmap to visualize your route, pinpointing your ride's top 10 most severe shock locations.
4. Crowd-Source Data
By uploading route data, community members collectively build a comprehensive road quality map to guide local road restoration work.
Under the Hood
By combining high-frequency accelerometer logs with GPS coordinates, the app filters out standard pedaling motion while remaining sensitive to sudden vertical impacts (potholes, root upheavals, uneven pavers). The processed data points are then aggregated into color-coded heatmaps that immediately reveal problem areas.
Want to test Schoten Schokt?
Explore the full project background or get in touch to collaborate on smart mobility initiatives.