Eight interesting routes for runners and pedestrians starting in the vicinity of the Faculty of Science, thematically named after scientific fields and Olomouc attractions, can be found in a new map app authored by Martin Gabryš, a graduate of the Faculty of Science, and students of Geoinformatics and Cartography Jakub Koníček and Radek Barvíř. The application is designed for students, employees, and the general public.
“Last year I started working on the Cyclo-Routes project, in which I create circuit routes primarily for cycling, in the form of printed maps, map apps, and websites. It occurred to me that I could do something similar at the faculty, so I applied for the Cherish Your Nature competition. I wrote a project, and made a print map, app, and website in which the faculty eventually showed interest,” said Martin Gabryš.
The aim of the project was to create routes for pedestrians and runners that both start and end at a common point at the Faculty of Science. Routes are 2.5 to 12 km long. In the menu are found thematically focused topics sorted by the fields of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Ecology, Earth Sciences, Fort Science, and Science Centres, as well as Olomouc “bonuses”, which include parks, monuments and squares.
“Together with Radek Barvíř, with whom we organise weekly runs from the Department of Geoinformatics, we devised thematically focused routes, which, according to our running experience, are the best in Olomouc. After digitizing and creating a description of each route, I worked out a graphic design of the project in the form of a poster while Martin Gabryš fine-tuned the map application,” added Jakub Koníček.
The application can be used either on a computer or smartphone. Routes are not marked in the terrain, therefore it is advisable to print your own map or use GPS. “Matyáš Černohous from the Department of Computer Science helped me with the application fine-tuning, for which I express my gratitude,” added Gabryš. Under the auspices of the project, a print map was created for the entrance of the Faculty of Science. More information is available (in Czech) at https://www.mapujme.cz/prfupol/.