The pandemic has made us appreciate nature so much more.
Those of us in London not fortunate enough to have a garden have been taking to parks and nature spots in abundance.
So one woman has come up with a way to make it even more convenient for nature lovers to plan their jaunts.
Helen Ilus created a London Underground style Tube map showing how far parks and nature spots in the capital are from one other.
Though it started off small, the map now includes more than 300 green areas, covering the entire capital.
Now you can plan a long hike or cycle across the city to your heart’s content.
If one park is full, no problem, the other is probably less than a mile away.
We spoke to Helen to find out what inspired this green map.
She tells Metro.co.uk: ‘I tweeted a Tube map that connects parks with lines for walking and cycling. About 10 people liked this idea so I went ahead and actually made the first map.
‘When I put it on Twitter asking what people think, it went viral. Everybody liked the idea, but many people pointed out that lot of parks were missing from the map.
‘The first map had around 60 parks and six lines. At that point I knew most of the parks on the map from when I lived in London a few years back and walked a lot.’
Though the map started from Helen’s personal knowledge, soon it became much bigger, with people inputting other parks to include.
Helen added: ‘People kept suggesting more parks so I continued working on the map.
‘The map has outgrown me and currently has 380 parks and 12 lines covering around 1100 km.’
Asked whether she’s been able to tick off many of the parks for research and health purposes, Helen says she’s trying.
Google has also been a great help to place parks she has not personally visited.
She continued: ‘I would love to walk it all, but it has been difficult to set this project up at the moment. Right now most plotting has been done with the help of Google maps.’
Helen puts the increased interest in nature down to the pandemic.
She added: ‘The map has certainly resonated with Londoners during lockdown as many people are walking and cycling more.
‘Also, instead of going abroad, a lot of people are opting for domestic tourism and walking is one of the simplest things you can do.
‘I think many people found exploring urban nature and parks helped them during the lockdown.’
Helen’s map has proved to be so popular that it’s now sold out, but you can keep an eye out on Helen’s website to see when it is available again.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/03/tube-style-map-shows-walking-routes-between-londons-parks-and-nature-spots-13218358/
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