Skyway Routing System Minneapolis · Amenity-aware indoor navigation

This project builds a routing website for the Minneapolis skyway system. Instead of giving only the shortest route, it offers route options based on what a user wants along the way — such as food, retail, or open space.

The aim was to treat the skyway as a real urban circulation system, not just as missing space in mainstream maps. The project responds to a simple problem: in Minneapolis, indoor walking matters, especially in winter, but most digital maps do not help people navigate this network meaningfully.

I extracted the pedestrian network with OSMnx, converted it into a graph, and reduced it to the skyway area. Amenities such as food, retail, and open spaces were mapped, cleaned, and attached to nearby network edges. This turned the graph into a routing system where each edge carried both distance and amenity information.

The system still uses shortest-path logic, but it changes edge weights depending on what the user wants nearby. If a user wants a food-rich path, edges near restaurants become more attractive. This makes the route more experience-based rather than distance-only.

• Built a walkable skyway network from OpenStreetMap data.
• Matched amenities to network edges using nearest-edge logic.
• Created alternative routes based on user priorities, not only shortest distance.
• Translated the full workflow into a working website and demo.

This project shows how geospatial data science can improve everyday navigation by making routing more human-centered. It is both a network analysis project and a design experiment in how cities can be navigated by comfort, activity, and experience — not just efficiency.