Cool Walks App
Record-breaking heatwaves hit Spain this summer, and temperatures are only expected to rise in the years to come. A new app called “Cool Walks” can help walkers in Barcelona avoid dangerous heat by identifying the shadiest route between two places. The Guardian describes the app as a routing tool for pedestrians that shows users multiple paths to use when traveling from home to the university, a friend’s house, a local market, or anywhere else.
The app locates:
- A shady route (that may take additional time since they navigate tree-lined streets)
- A sunless route using the “vampire mode” that avoids all sunlight.
- Public drinking fountains and sheltered places.
This app currently only works for Barcelonian pedestrians as it only mapped one neighborhood in Barcelona to date. It uses Lidar technology to create a high resolution of ground elevation combined with sun data to determine where the shadiest places are.
Marc Montlleo, Barcelona Regional’s director of environmental projects, said:
We wanted to generate different options so you could pick faster or cooler routes, and we calculated three different algorithms. The vampire mode was made by our team, who had a lot of beer the night before. It was for a bit of fun to totally avoid sunlight.
With the planet getting hotter each year, heat waves harm people more than any other climate risk. According to the EPA, over 11,000 Americans have died from heat-related causes since 1979. In addition, seniors over 65 or people with respiratory issues are more vulnerable to heat.
Today, heatwaves affect 200 million people in over 350 cities worldwide. Barcelona is one of them. And, if the Paris agreement’s climate change goal isn’t met, even more people will be impacted by the rising temperatures. However, people aren’t the only ones affected; billions of sea and land creatures are also dying from the heat.
Thankfully, Barcelona is already working on ways to mitigate the effects of global warming. For example, the city kicked off a 20-year Tree Master Plan in 2017 to increase tree coverage from 25% to 35% and provide residents with quality public spaces and green infrastructure.
Jon Burke, a former councilor for London’s Hackney, told The Guardian:
Trees and broader green infrastructure are the most advanced technology known for mitigating the impact of our densifying and rapidly heating cities. City leaders should make that their priority in the first instance.
This app could help Barcelonans avoid overheating, as Spain recorded its highest temperature ever earlier this month. Unfortunately, Spain isn’t the only region sweltering under record-breaking heatwaves this summer. Oregon and Washington State reported around 100 heat-related deaths combined, while British Columbia reported 486 deaths.
Barcelona Heat Wave
On August 14, the temperature in Montoro, Spain, soared to 117.3°F, breaking Spain’s previous record of 117.1°F in July 2017.
Some areas in Spain have opened cooling centers for residents who don’t have air conditioning. For example, two cooling centers are available in Castell-Platja d’Aro in Girona province. At the same time, Barcelona has a network of 162 public facilities, including libraries, museums, and sports centers, that act as refuges from the heat. While these facilities are open all summer, they get more visitors during heatwaves.
The record-breaking temperatures come days after the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) unveiled its report on the effect of human activity on the climate. The report found that human impact “has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land” and caused profound changes in the environment, such as soaring temperatures and the conception of extreme weather episodes.
World Meteorological Organization official Stefanski warned that temperatures in Spain “will continue to rise until we reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” There were between 10 to 12 heatwaves per decade in Spain between the 1980s and the 2000s; around one heatwave per year. From 2010 to 2020, there were 24.
Hicham Acheback, from the Climate & Health group of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, participated in a study published this July in The Lancet. It found that 3,669 people in Spain died annually between 1998 and 2012 due to heat and its effect. Based on this data and considering the rising temperature, the report predicts:
- Deaths in Spain could reach 14,531 per year between 2035 and 2064 (in the worst-case scenario, with no reduction in GHG emissions);
- From 2070 to 2099, there would be 30,443 deaths (also in the worst-case scenario).
While avoiding extremely sunny areas could prevent you from overheating and potentially save your life, staying away from crime hot spots could also be a life-saver.
WalkSafe App
This free app, called WalkSafe, reveals the most dangerous places to avoid walking. It’s available to download for iPhones via the App Store and android use on the Google play store. WalkSafe app, launched last year, is designed to keep women, men, and children safe from any dangers that exist in their area by highlighting crime reports. These reports are updated twice weekly on its map functionality.
WalkSafe website reads:
At WalkSafe, we value safety. We all value our safety, but the danger is a fact of life. Even when walking, we make bad decisions because we don’t know where the dangers lie. We increasingly worry about mugging, violence, and knife crime. These dangers are numerous, hidden, changing, and unknown – it’s impossible to know them all, all the time.
The App has seen an increase in the number of downloads, as people step up their safety after the tragic murder of Sarah Everard, who went missing on March 3 while walking home from a friend’s residence in South London and was found dead a week later.
Emma Kay, the co-founder of the WalkSafe app, said:
This app should not have to exist, but if creating it helps just one person avoid a bad situation, it’s worth it.
The WalkSafe map displays crime reports published monthly by the Police – allowing users to see where serious crimes have been committed, distinguish patterns, and identify frequent trouble zones.
In addition to publishing crucial data twice per week, the WalkSafe app also scans the road ahead. It alerts users when they walk near areas with reports of sexual assault, knife attacks, pickpocketing, and mugging. ‘While no one can predict where the next crime will be, however, we believe being informed and staying alert is the key to staying safer,’ the WalkSafe website states.
WalkSafe app allows you to plan a safer route for you and your loved ones. Because, after all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
