Invercargill families may now find it easier to find ways of being active in the city’s playgrounds, thanks to a collaboration between Healthy Families Invercargill, the Invercargill City Council and playground safety equipment suppliers Numat.

Invercargill playgrounds are now available on the Playgrounds Near Me map of New Zealand playgrounds. The map, hosted by Numat, is a useful tool for the general public, especially families, to see what playgrounds are nearby. Users can hover over the playground and see an image of the playground and the details of what play equipment and facilities are there or nearby.

Inclusion of the Invercargill playgrounds came after Healthy Families Invercargill staff engaged with Invercargill families and discovered most wanted more information about local playgrounds, maps of where they were, and indications of the facilities available.

Healthy Families Invercargill Manager Jared Cappie said community feedback showed there was a desire to know more about local playgrounds and parks.

“Through our engagement we found some families didn’t know there were playgrounds in their local neighbourhood, or they were interested in finding out what other playgrounds they could explore with their families.”

The Playgrounds Near Me mapping site is used throughout New Zealand and is also a useful tool for new residents and for people travelling through the region to find playgrounds.

Healthy families Play System Innovator Cathy Jordan will now be working with other councils to map the playgrounds throughout the Southland region and look for opportunities to activate these spaces.

“By raising awareness of our local playgrounds we believe families will use them more often and improve physical activity and play in our communities.“

This week is also Parks Week, and it was hoped Playgrounds Near Me could help further encourage people to get out and about and use our local parks and playgrounds, Jordan said.

To visit the Playgrounds Near Me site click here

Article added: Wednesday 13 March 2019