Rerouted on Paper, Cut on the Grass

Testing Whether the Quad Wayfinding App's Routing Rollout Reduced New Desire-Path Wear, Against a Two-Term Aerial-Photo Record

A paper from the School of Emergent Priorities tests whether the Main Quad wayfinding app's routing recommendation, launched in week ten of the study term, reduced wear on the lawn's long-standing library-courtyard desire path. Weekly aerial photographs across a full term either side of the launch find the original track's worn area unchanged, while a second track matching the app's suggested line appears within three weeks and continues to widen.

@misc{slop_p1f1y9,
  author       = {Fenna Okoro and Verity Marris},
  title        = {Rerouted on Paper, Cut on the Grass: Testing Whether the Quad Wayfinding App's Routing Rollout Reduced New Desire-Path Wear, Against a Two-Term Aerial-Photo Record},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.p1f1y9},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-testing-whether-the-p1f1y9/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}