Open data in action - Played, imin & The London Borough of Hounslow

November 20, 2017
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Co-authored by Chris Norfield (London Borough of Hounslow) and Tom Marley (Co-founder, Played).

Being a young startup, Played is looking to really make a difference in getting people to become more active, it was exciting to be chosen to partner with the London Borough of Hounslow and imin to create an activity finder for the residents of Hounslow to be able to easily find, book and attend local physical activity classes.

The Played widget is powered by imin, who aggregate open data to give real time physical activity information to the user in just a few clicks, creating a brand new user experience for local residents to be able to find the right physical activity to match their needs.

Check out the activity finder here

In an ever changing digital landscape, Played believes it is critical that innovative technology empowers people to become more active and by giving the user the correct tools to get involved in being more active, more activity will take place.

Technology has made it easier to be inactive (Netflix, Deliveroo etc) and by learning great things about user experience from these products and applying these to the physical activity sector, we hope to help shift the balance.

The active choice platform is critical in putting our technology in front of the right people so that we can create useful products to enable people to become more active. We are proud to be part of an open marketplace in order to help organisations make the right decisions with technology.

Chris Norfield, Public Health Strategist at the London Borough of Hounslow said:

“One of the challenges that we have faced in showcasing local activity opportunities is that we simply don’t know how people prefer to search for an activity. Is it by location, day, time or type of activity? The Played widget appealed to us as it takes these elements and makes it simple for the user to conduct their search in the way that works for them. So whether they want to search from sessions from a well known local provider (e.g OurParks), by activity type (e.g. Dance, Running or Outdoors) or simply by which sessions are available within a 10 minute walk from their house. They can do this all within the Played widget. We are looking forward to working together with Played and imin to further refine and improve the user experience over the coming year”.

The London Borough of Hounslow and this product has set the bar for what the digital expectations of the modern day consumer is – they want to be able to see when an activity is taking place, how far away it is, what it costs and more – all instantly, so the decision to participate becomes a lot easier.

Played is looking forward to partnering with more forward thinking local authorities and organisations to develop digital products to enable their residents to become more active and is in dialogues with a number of other authorities across London as part of the active//choice network.

We are extremely excited that the activity finder has gone live and can’t wait to see the impact it has on the locality becoming more active than ever before. These types of products make engaging in physical activity a lot easier, quicker and more effective because of open data and this will have a significant impact in increasing participation going forward.

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