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Commission hears about Biolytics/PACER sidewalk assessment tool; staff says it's already paid for
Summary
City staff described an AI-enabled grading tool (Biolytics using PACER criteria) that has been used on streets and is available, at no extra cost, to map and grade sidewalks; commissioners discussed practical limitations and volunteer support for data collection.
An agency official told the Tree and Sidewalk Commission that the city has an AI-assisted assessment system (referred to as Biolytics) that uses PACER rating criteria to grade streets and can be adapted to sidewalks, providing a management tool for prioritizing repairs.
The official said the city has run the system on roadways and that the platform is available to do sidewalks: ‘‘It's already paid for,’’ the official said, adding that staff would only need to have someone collect sidewalk video data (for example, using a golf cart with a mounted phone) and run the tool to get segment-by-segment PACER scores.
Commissioners welcomed the prospect of a standardized inventory that reduces subjective differences between evaluators, but they also raised limitations. Members noted that sidewalks sometimes require walking both directions or human review where the algorithm cannot tell whether a sidewalk exists or is obscured. They emphasized the tool should provide a starting point, not a final decision, and recommended a human review step for ambiguous segments.
Members suggested using Phil's existing manual inventory as a training or verification dataset and discussed whether a volunteer could be trained to ride a trike or golf cart to collect sidewalks data. The official said the program is sensitive enough to flag lifts, cracks and even small height differences at manhole covers, which could help prioritize maintenance.
No formal vote was taken; commissioners asked staff to consider a pilot or phased approach starting from existing lists and volunteer support, then report back at a future meeting.
