A2B working title Join the waitlist

Melbourne CBD · walking map

The city, with the shortcuts left in.

A walking map of Melbourne’s CBD that knows the arcades, lanes and lobbies you can cut through, and when they’re open.

We’ll only email you about the pilot. No ads, no cookies. Privacy

Free pilot in the CBD this summer

A shortcut from Flinders St to Bourke St Mall A black-and-white plan of Melbourne’s CBD from OpenStreetMap. Black is building, gold is a passage you can walk through. A vermilion route runs from Flinders St up Degraves St, through Centre Place, Centreway, Block Arcade, Block Place and Royal Arcade to Bourke St Mall. A dashed grey route goes the long way round by the streets. Degraves St Centre Place Centreway Block Arcade Block Place Royal Arcade Streets only Flinders St Bourke St Mall

Flinders St → Bourke St Mall · Thu 12:41 pm

saves 1.3 minand 3 fewer sets of lights

  • Through arcades532 m
  • Streets only635 m
Black is building. Gold is a way through. Vermilion is your walk. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Real CBD blocks and passages; hours indicative.

How it works

Like any map. Except it knows the way through.

  1. Myer, Bourke St

    01

    Pick where you’re going.

    Search a shop, a station or a corner, like any map app.

  2. open till 6 pm closed by 6:10

    02

    We find the way through.

    Arcades, lanes, lobbies and concourses, checked against their hours for the minute you’ll reach each door.

  3. 03

    Follow the line.

    It shrinks as you walk. At each door you get a photo of what to look for, so you’re never squinting at a blue dot indoors.

The dry route

Melbourne weather? Take the dry route.

The CBD is full of roofs you can walk under, if you know which doors connect. On our prototype’s CBD demo trips, going through passages kept the route under cover for most of the way, and it was still the shorter way.

Streets only0–30%
Through passages65–85%
under cover range across trips in the open Share of the route under a roof on our routing prototype’s CBD demo trips, computed from OpenStreetMap data. Not yet checked on foot.

What we’re building

Designed for the doorway, not the blue dot.

Design mockups for the pilot. Not an app you can download yet; times, hours and savings in them are illustrative.

Walking screen: a card says in 60 metres enter Block Arcade, with a photo of the mosaic-floor entrance. The vermilion route ahead runs through two arcades.
Follow the line. Only the walk still ahead is drawn, and the next door comes with a photo.
Inside Block Arcade: a straightened corridor diagram with shopfronts, the exit marked, and a card saying exit onto Little Collins St, turn right.
Inside, no guessing. GPS goes vague indoors, so you get a corridor diagram and a step card.
Reroute banner: Block Arcade shuts before you arrive, so the route goes via Howey Place and Melbourne Walk instead.
Hours, for when you arrive. If an arcade will shut before you reach it, you go another way.
Explore screen: the whole CBD as a black-and-white plan with gold passages and a time slider to see what closes tonight.
The CBD, see-through. Every way through the blocks, and a slider to see what closes tonight.
Block Arcade detail: opening hours, three doors, step-free and covered badges, and when walkers last checked it.
Every passage, checked. Hours, doors and when a walker last confirmed it.

Where we’re at

Honestly: early, and walking it.

  • 404

    possible indoor links

    found in open map data (OpenStreetMap). Plenty are dead ends, so we’re checking them on foot to find the ones that really go through.

  • 11pm

    is when the shortcuts vanish

    Opening hours are the hard part. Arcades shut at night, so late at night we send you by the streets instead. Hours we haven’t checked are marked as indicative.

  • CBDfirst

    Melbourne, block by block

    We’re starting with the Hoddle Grid, between Flinders St and La Trobe St. Other cities only if it works here.

Help us map it

Two minutes. You decide what we build first.

Tell us how you walk the CBD, what would make this worth having, and the shortcut you’d never give up. We’ll go and check it on foot.

Take the 2-minute survey Email us a shortcut
Design mockup: a screen called Found a shortcut? that records a walk through a building and asks you to mark the doors you used.

Questions

Fair questions.

Is it free?

The pilot is free. After that we haven’t decided: maybe free, maybe a small yearly price. The survey asks what you’d think is fair. Joining the waitlist costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Which cities?

Melbourne’s CBD first. If it works here, cities with good through-routes could follow, but we’re not promising any yet.

Is it OK to walk through these places?

We only route through places that are open to the public, and only during their opening hours. They’re still private property, so be respectful: keep moving, mind the shops and follow staff and signs. If a place asks people not to cut through, we’ll take it off the map.

How do you know the hours?

Open map data has hours for only a handful of passages, so we check the rest on foot: door signs, plus visits early, at closing time and at night. Hours we haven’t confirmed are marked as indicative, and when we’re unsure we send you by the streets.

iPhone or Android?

Not decided yet. Tell us which phone you use in the survey; it decides what we build first.

What do you do with my email?

We use it to tell you when the pilot opens and to invite you to test it. It’s kept in a Google Sheet that only the two founders can open, and it’s never sold or shared. Email hello@atwob.app and we’ll delete it. More in the privacy note.

Be first to walk it.

Free pilot in the CBD this summer. We’ll email you when it’s ready.

We’ll only email you about the pilot. Privacy