Kajaani is crowdsourcing an inspection of the city's cycle routes, with cyclists asked to download a mobile phone game with cash rewards.
The mobile game is a fun and effective way to invite residents to survey the state of the streets, said the Kajaani city engineer Matti Jousiainen. The game launches on Saturday 1 July at 10 am and is open to everyone.
To play the game, participants need to download the CrowdSorsa app from an app store. They will then film their ride along the city's cycle lanes, aiming for digital fruits and berries superimposed on the city map.
Participants can collect up to three euros worth of harvest on each kilometre. The game is completed when the participants have covered the city's full 68 km cycle network. The money earned in the game is then transferred to the participant's bank account.
Toni Paju, CEO of Crowdsorsa, said that it is possible to earn up to twenty euros per hour by participating in the mapping project.
Afterward, the participant's videos are inspected and a computer vision model will analyse them to identify any surface cracks. The City of Kajaani has already completed a similar project mapping out the area's road conditions using CrowdSorsa.
Similar crowdsourced cycle lane inspections are also taking place in Forssa, Joensuu, Kirkkonummi, Parainen, and Ylöjärvi.
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