We all love a good London night out, whether it’s a gig or bar-hopping in your neighbourhood. However, something I’m sure we’re also familiar with is that uneasy feeling when trying to navigate our way home.
Well, there’s a new app on the scene that could be a solution to that problem.
Safest Way
The new app, called Safest Way, was created to allow users to find routes home that consider well-lit streets, while using crime and CCTV data to inform routes. The idea is to provide the safest route, rather than the fastest one, which the usual navigation apps provide.
The idea came to the co-founder of the app when she was trying to navigate her way back from a concert at the O2. It was a 30-minute walk from the venue to where she had parked, and she didn’t feel safe. It was then that the idea for Safest Way was born.
The app is currently live in London, York, Northern Ireland and Greater Manchester. Those behind the app hope to expand across the UK very soon.
London lighting map
As part of the development of the app, the organisation have gathered street lighting data from across the London boroughs and has collated the info into this handy London lighting map.
The map allows users to see how well-lit roads are, with “fully-lit” being classed as roads having a lamp post every 30 metres.
According to this data, the most well-lit borough is City of London, with 86% of the borough fully lit, followed closely by Hackney, which is 77% fully lit. Bottom of the list is Harrow with only 16% full-lit roads.
The company behind the app are also welcoming feedback from locals, so if you think an area is more or less well-lit than the data suggests, they’d love to hear from you.
You can find out more on Safest Way’s website.
