Cameras help people plan outdoor activities

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Justin Rudolph, Aaron Angst and Leo DaLynx love to play pickleball.

"People that get involved with pickleball, pickleball becomes life," Angst said.

Pickleball is life for a lot of people, which can cause courts to be packed. That coupled with Florida weather sometimes means sitting on the sidelines. 

"We’d come, and then it would start to rain or would be overcrowded," DaLynx said.

They met last year on, where else but a pickleball court. Together, they came up with a solution called ParkView. It’s a website that has live video feeds of local parks that show weather conditions and how crowded the courts are. The weather conditions update every 10 minutes.

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"Many of us texted each other, ‘hey, what are the courts like at Crescent? Is it raining at Coquina? Are the courts full?’ So, being able to provide this solution just makes everybody's life easier," Angst said.

"The main goal is really just providing insight to our users so they can visualize multiple locations at once and make an educated decision, whether that's, ‘hey, I want to go to the beach and experience a beach or, hey, I want to go over here and play tennis,’" Rudolph said. "’Because I know that the courts are available, and I really want to use this pocket of time to the best of my opportunity,’" he said.

The free site started in January and they have about a dozen cameras right now, which are mostly in St. Pete. The cameras are on businesses and homes that have good views of the courts and offered to host the cameras, they said. Rudolph, Angst and DaLynx said they’re working with cities’ parks and rec departments to put the cameras in the parks as they expand.

While pickleball is a favorite, the cameras also show tennis and volleyball courts, some beaches and private businesses that are interested too.

"We just want to save people time and money because everybody's busy. There's a lot of things we need to do, want to do … and just not drive around unnecessarily," DaLynx said.

They said they have a couple of investors so far, and have had cities in across the area and across the country reach out who are interested. If anyone has a request for cameras in a certain area, there’s a contact form on ParkView’s website. 

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