Two mums have launched a new app, mapping parks and green spaces across Sheffield.
Jenni Sayer, 34, and Laura Appleby, 36, developed Sheffield Parks app, in a bid to encourage more people to discover green spaces within the city.
The app designed by their friend, Tim Cropper-Williams, features an interactive map and a search facility, allowing users to find parks within their area.
Ms Sayer, a Data Manger, said: “I hope it opens up more parks in the city and pulls more people to visit areas of the city they wouldn’t have thought to visit, allowing people to find new green spaces that are just on their door step.”
Watch this video to see how the app works:
The co-founders created the app after they took on the mammoth task of visiting every park within Sheffield since 2017 and tracked their venture on a map every-time they found a new outdoor area.
The duo then set up the voluntary group Sheffield Park Project, so they could continue to discover parks and green spaces every weekend within the city.
Laura Appleby, a Marketing Manager, said: “We had been making a note of what was at each park and decided the information needed to be saved in a central location so that everyone in Sheffield and anyone visiting could benefit from our findings.
“We want to help people to connect with the outdoors and find out how they can do so, without even travelling too far from home.”
The virtual map now boasts nearly 400 parks, with information about each park provided by voluntary friend groups who are dedicated to maintaining Sheffield’s green spaces.
The app also has a community form, where users can upload information about Sheffield’s 800 green spaces, as they visit them.
Ms Sayer continued: “It’s important to bring attention to parks and green spaces because they are terrible underfunded, despite the council doing a wonderful job at maintaining them.
“We hope that our app will give Sheffield’s green spaces the recognition they deserve.”
Since its release at the end of April, the app has had over 300 downloads. The free app has been soft-launched for iPhone, with an Android version coming soon.