Dubai Municipality launches smart jogging track to help you stay fit

Dubai - The track displays the weather forecast, number of bikers and joggers, and the number of calories burned per day.

In a bid to encourage fitness and sports among the community, Dubai Municipality launched its first smart track in Al Khawaneej to record the number of joggers and bikers per day.
Dubai's first smart track at Al Khawaneej Walking and Cycling Park is aimed to encourage people to make sports as part of their daily lifestyle.
"When people see the number of joggers and bikers on the smart track, they will be encouraged to join the sports community and be active," said Eng. Mohammed Abdul Rahman Al Awadhi, director of public parks and horticulture department at Dubai Municipality. 
The track displays the weather forecast, number of bikers and joggers, and the number of calories burned per day. Al Awadhi said it already recorded over 2,000 bikers and joggers so far.
By mid-2018, he added, smart tracks will be implemented across Dubai's public parks. Currently, there are 10 cycling tracks and 48 sports tracks across the city. The department had installed 212 sports equipment in different parks. 
He noted that smart tracks will help the municipality keep a smart database of the community's activities that can benefit entities with demographics needed to hold different sports and fitness events throughout the year. 
The smart tracks will keep record of the peak hours throughout the week where the largest number of visitors hit the track. 
"A solid database will help us and entities like Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Dubai Sports Council to gather information about people's activities that will help us in organising future fitness events," said Al Awadhi.
"If we found that a certain track receives the lowest numbers of visitors, we would, therefore, take action on organising the suitable events to encourage that area's community to take up sports."
The next smart meter will be installed at Barsha Park, Al Awadhi said.
Earlier, the 30-day Dubai Fitness challenge was launched to call upon everyone to engage in physical activity for 30 minutes daily for 30 days. The move to instal the smart tracks is in line with the city's move to becoming a smart city.
Shamsa Mohammed Al Shehhi, head of maintenance units in charge in the public parks and horticulture department, said bigger parks with higher demand were first targeted. Tracks will soon be extended to the small residential parks.
She added that while the department had an internal device that measured the number of visitors, the smart track was added to give an idea to the community on the numbers of people who practice sports. Therefore, they will be motivated to join that number.
"We introduced the first smart track in Al Khawaneej after witnessing the high numbers of visitors. We will first target the big parks with the highest demand to make culture a lifestyle for the highest number of people," said Al Shehhi.
sherouk@khaleejtimes.com
 

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