Free App Finds the Closest Park

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Baltimore, MD – The Chesapeake Conservancy has developed and launched Park Finder: Baltimore, a free web-based application to help Baltimore residents and visitors find the closest park or public open space to their location.

By entering an address in a mobile device or a desktop web-browser, the app will display the parks or public open spaces that are within a five, 10, or 15-minute walk from that location. Each entry includes a direct link to Google Maps, pre-configured with walking directions from the provided location. The app can also be used to help Baltimore residents petition for more greenspace in their communities.

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“Whether you live or work in Baltimore, are just visiting, or are in town for a meeting at the Convention Center, the Chesapeake Conservancy wants to help you find your closest park,” Chesapeake Conservancy President and CEO Joel Dunn said. “Health care providers are stressing the need to connect with nature for our wellbeing. Some doctors are even writing what can be described as park prescriptions. Sometimes our opportunities for nature breaks are in locations that may be unfamiliar to us.  We hope that the Park Finder: Baltimore app will help make it easier for more people to connect to nature in the city’s urban setting.”

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Park Finder: Baltimore was developed and launched in part to support the Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition (GBWC), an effort spearheaded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop more public lands and trails. GBWC also seeks to conserve wetlands and resilient watersheds in Baltimore and Central Maryland.

Determining true walkable access to public open spaces required a complex analysis by the Chesapeake Conservancy’s Solutions Engineer Colin Stief.  His analysis considered the common barriers that pedestrians face, such as highways, restricted access and industrial zones.

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The app can be found at chesapeakeconservancy.org/apps/ParkFinderBaltimore