Providing Wayfinding Measurements for Ross-on-Wye Town Council using PearGIS

Ross-on-Wye Town Council planned to update the fingerposts in their town centre.

The existing fingerposts were considered outdated, with distances measured in yards. The council aimed to modernise the signage, changing the distances to metres. To achieve this, they required accurate wayfinding measurements of walking distances between planned fingerpost locations and various town centre destinations.

Ross-on-Wye Town Council approached Pear Technology to assist with this task. They needed to know the distances from specific fingerpost locations to key points of interest.

One of Ross-on-Wye's new fingerposts

Our Solution

Pear Technology proposed a method for calculating these distances using our mapping software, PearGIS.

The council confirmed that they required the distance of the route someone would walk between locations rather than the direct, straight-line distance between points.

The Mapping Process: Data, Detail, and Challenges

  • 1

    Plotting Locations

    We plotted the locations of the fingerposts. We also plotted the town feature locations that would serve as destinations.

    These destinations included places like the Skatepark, Bandstand, St Mary’s Churchyard, Wye Street Toilets, Gazebo Tower, Rope Walk Playground, Rowing Club, Market House Council Offices / Town Hall, Crofts Court Toilets Library, Red Meadow Toilets, and the Leisure Centre.

  • Drawing Routes

    Using PearGIS, we drew the routes representing the shortest possible walking path between each fingerpost location and its designated destination. This involved examining maps and using tools like Google Earth to determine the safest and easiest pedestrian routes, acknowledging that some local footpaths or shortcuts might not be obvious.

    Pencil Pencil

    2

  • 3

    Export Export

    Extracting Measurements

    PearGIS is able to automatically calculate the length of drawn lines. The measurements were quickly and easily exported from the map into an Excel spreadsheet and sent to the council to check, along with PDFs of each route.

  • Amendments and Refinement

    The service included a round of amendments to adjust locations or routes if needed. We worked collaboratively with the council, providing draft maps for checking. We sought clarification on certain destinations not labelled on the base Ordnance Survey map. We offered direct consultation via phone or PC connection to help resolve these queries and ensure accuracy.

    Check Check

    4

The Mapping Process: Using PearGIS

Pear chose to use our, then new, mapping software, PearGIS. Unlike PT-Mapper Pro, PearGIS is able to store a database of information within the software which meant is was much easier to identify, edit, and label sites which made working on multiple drafts much easier.

© Crown Copyright and database rights 2025 Ordnance Survey ® licence number AC0000822731

Deliverables

We provided Ross-on-Wye Town Council with the required information in several formats:

  1. Digital Maps: Drafts were shared as A0 PDF maps, making sure the locations and routes were clear against the detailed Ordnance Survey Mastermap Topography Data backdrop.
  2. Excel Spreadsheet: The calculated distances for each route were exported from the map into an Excel spreadsheet which could be easily shared with the council. During the draft stages the spreadsheet also included any queries that needed clarification from the council, making the amendments process simple.

Outcome

“By using our mapping software, PearGIS, and a collaborative process of plotting, routing, and refinement, Pear Technology successfully produced the necessary walking route measurements for Ross-on-Wye Town Council’s fingerpost update project. This provided the council with the precise data in metres required to modernise their wayfinding signage, moving away from the outdated imperial measurements.”

The support from Pear in pulling together these measurements has been invaluable in completing phase 1 of our fingerpost refurbishment project. We look forward to using the service again in future, whether that be for phase 2 of the project or walking routes.

Software Used

  • PearGIS, Pear’s powerful new mapping software.
  • Google Earth

Links