Shade-aware Routing For Sunburn Prevention
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48545/advance2025-fullpapers-2_1
Abstract
Walking is a widely favored mode of travel, but pedestrians face significant exposure to ultraviolet radiation, which can cause skin discoloration and irritation. UV exposure can exceed healthy levels all year round, leading to short-term discomfort and long-term damage to the skin. The public is often advised to seek shade to avoid prolonged exposure to UV radiation. The practicality of this recommendation for pedestrians is not obvious as the shade coverage is highly variable in urban environments depending on the date and time. To test the feasibility of shade-aware routing, we model the approximate shade coverage with OpenStreetMap data and simulate pedestrian paths that minimize sun exposure. We quantify the opportunities to use shaded navigation in urban environments as it relates to avoidance of UV radiation. We show that it is useful to seek shade in urban environments even in situations where the shade coverage is the lowest. As an extreme case, we simulate shade on the day the UV index was the highest throughout 2024 in Paris, we show that it was 43% safer for pedestrians of skin type I to maximize shade as opposed to distance. Safe walking distance increased by 15%. Even on the day of minimal shade throughout the year, shade-aware routing was 34% safer compared to shortest-path routing, increasing safe walking distance by 4%.
Keywords
Shade-aware Routing, Sunburn Prevention, UV radiation