The Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation has launched its latest online map showing the location of the city’s outdoor and indoor recreational and exercise facilities across 402 designated locations on Oahu.
Made with Google My Maps, the digital map — available at bit.ly/OahuPlaygrounds — locates city- owned sites that include 135 playgrounds, 25 gymnasiums, 15 fitness stations and 12 swing sets.
The new map, the city says, is also part of an ongoing series of web-based tools for the public to use while enjoying the outdoors around the island.
“Getting into the 21st century, having better management of our facilities and knowing where they are are vital to helping us understand what parks have to offer as a resource to the public and what’s available to them and where they can go to enjoy the outdoors,” said Nate Serota, a DPR spokesperson, during a Monday news conference at Wai‘alae Iki Neighborhood Park in East Oahu.
Users can search marked locations depicted on the online map of Oahu. By clicking on a park site, basic address and contact information is shown. Serota, along with DPR staff, took about a year to complete the interactive map project at no extra cost to taxpayers, city officials say.
“A common question we get from parents and park users is where they can find particular park amenities, especially if their regular playground is being used by Summer Fun keiki,” said DPR Director Laura Thielen in a written statement. “Now these maps provide precise locations of some of our most popular park facilities, and where everyone can safely enjoy our shoreline parks, in a user-friendly format. Not only do these maps display these public resources for general use, it also helps the city better understand our existing inventory to improve management.”
Meanwhile, the city says the online facilities map will complement its three other existing digital maps. That includes the city’s beach/ocean access map, which has been updated with the location of city lifeguard towers at island beaches as well as Americans With Disabilities Act-accessible resources.
Originally created in 2016, the beach/ocean access map — at bit.ly/OahuBeachAccess — offers the locations of the city’s 68 shoreline parks. Of those parks, 22 have lifeguard towers while 46 do not. The map also depicts 89 beach rights-of-way or passages to the beaches, 41 Ocean Safety lifeguard towers and 16 park locations with wheelchair access as well as ADA-accessible beach mats, all-terrain wheelchairs or both.
John Titchen, the city’s chief of Ocean Safety, said the upgraded beach access site will allow the public to know which beaches are manned by lifeguards in towers and which are not.
“The information that you can get quickly is going to save lives,” Titchen said at the news conference. “Really, the best lifeguarding presence is one in which we’re there all day. The vigilance that’s provided with a lifeguard in the tower or several lifeguards in the tower can’t be met with any other service that we provide. … At the end of the day, a staff lifeguard tower is really the best tool for safety.”
Besides ocean safety and playgrounds, Honolulu has other websites that show city-run facilities and programs, including bit.ly/SummerFunMap, which covers the city’s annual Summer Fun program.
A third map — at bit.ly/OahuParkMap — shows comprehensive park locations for the entire county. It also includes 43 dog parks, 21 swimming pool sites, 17 campgrounds, 15 skate parks and roller rinks, 11 community gardens and five botanical gardens. This map recorded more than 2 million views by April, the city says.
With children and adults playing in the background at Wai‘alae Iki Neighborhood Park, Mayor Rick Blangiardi lauded the city’s new online park map. “This is one more effort for us to better serve the public and at the same time work to modernize the city,” he said.
For more information on programs and resources, call the city Department of Parks and Recreation at 808-768-3003 or email parks@honolulu.gov.
