Pathway app ready for download

Times Reporter 

 

The Strathmore Assembly of Youth (SAY) officially launched their pathway app on July 2. On Canada Day members of SAY were out promoting the app, which is only available for the iPhone at this time.

“There were a lot of people that were excited and had heard about it already and we’re ready to download it, we just weren’t quite ready for them,” said SAY Chair Jonah Zankl.

“I think we all figured it would be an easier process, it definitely wasn’t something we were expecting to turn so big but I think what we managed to produce was pretty cool.” 

The pathway app idea was created out of a suggestion that would see people getting up and active in their own community. There is often a complaint that people do not know where all of the paths are in town, or when they reach the end of one path where do they go from there? Hence the idea to provide a free way to showcase Strathmore’s pathway system.

“Last year Mayor Steve came to us and he wanted something to showcase the pathways. He was looking for a map pamphlet style, we kind of went ‘well nobody uses paper maps’ so we jumped into an app instead,” said Zankl. 

“We came up with 15 predefined routes, so those ones we kind of planned out a little bit walking around the community but the town was able to provide all of the GPS data for us.”

The new app links all of Strathmore’s pathways in one convenient location, and also has a number of features everyone can enjoy. Some of the features the app includes are suggesting routes, tracking speed, time and distance, sharing routes on Facebook and Twitter. People using the app can create their own routes, and of the routes already predetermined in the app the difficulty of the path is also listed. 

“We would love to see people using it, and getting outdoors and active. That was definitely our biggest push behind it is maintaining that healthy living and healthy communities. The pathways are either number one or two on the town’s outdoor priority list and then HEAL when they did their Walkability survey a couple years ago pathway accessibility and knowing where to go next were the biggest barriers they saw to people using the paths,” said Zankl. 

The town will now take over the maintenance of the app said Zankl. SAY is still hoping to be able to add more features, and make the app accessible for android phones, but in order to do so must raise more funds first. The initial cost of the project, to get it where it is today, was approximately $20,000. It was thanks to sponsors like the Town of Strathmore, W. Brett Wilson, Lakewood Meadows, the Lions Club, Kinsmen Club, Crowfoot Ag Solutions and many more that the app could be created. 

As of July 8 there were 150 Canadian downloads of the app, and 222 worldwide. Anyone who does wish to donate can contact SAY via email at strathmoreassemblyofyouth@gmail.com. The link to the free app is www.smorepaths.ca.