Google’s Sidewalk Labs made the ultimate public transport guide

Coord built the app using two in-house APIs. The Bikeshare API combines data from over 100 companies into a single, comparable place. The Routing API, meanwhile, allows Coord to mix different public transport options in new, city-savvy ways. It might recommend a bicycle, for instance, if you’re boarding a train later on that accepts them. If you want to use a docked bike scheme instead — Citi Bike or Capital Bikeshare, for example — Coord will scan nearby docks and those near your destination. If either looks dicey — say you’re leaving home in the morning and there’s only one space in the dock outside your office — it’ll likely suggest something else.

For now, the web app is merely a “demo tool”. It does, however, provide insight into the company and Sidewalk Labs’ larger mission. The latter is currently drawing up plans for a smart neighborhood near the Lake Ontario waterfront in Toronto. The team’s initial pitch was full of bold ideas including modular buildings and a network of underground tunnels for delivery robots and waste removal. The document also proposed a car-free zone with, perhaps, some form of subscription for limitless bus, bike and autonomous pods access. For that to work, though, the company needs a platform that can guide and track citizens as they move around town.

Coord is a separate entity, which means it has a slightly different goal to Sidewalk Labs. The company has developed a Surveyor app, for instance, which can quickly label curb-side parking and bus stops. It could be useful for ride-hailing services such as Lyft and Uber, as well as self-driving cars that need to know where it’s safe to pick up passengers and drop off packages. Regardless, it’s easy to see how Coord’s new route planning tool could be used by Sidewalk Labs to perfect its smart neighborhood dream.