[mattlutze]

I think you're describing one of the core motivations for these decades of research.

In most places still, changes to these maps need to go through lots of people process. This implies they're slow to update, and therefore often not entirely accurate or optimally understandable. For example, consider service works or temporary outtages.

The outcome of this research is not a toy-prize for armchair readers, but a generalized algorithmic approach to building necessary and important accessibility tools.

[mistrial9]

as research it is interesting and gets wide attention, yes.

the reasoning above is a basis for rational discussion?

difficult to say in a diplomatic way on a computer science forum, that "replacing" human graphic design using algorithms does not get unlimited upvotes from me for real reasons