In Nivala, the need arose for a service that would display both sports and outdoor locations as well as tourist attractions on a single platform. Fluent Outdoors provided the solution.
The City of Nivala has taken recreation and tourism in the region to the next level with the help of the Fluent Outdoors service. Through its own Fluent Outdoors platform, the city showcases destinations and activities suitable for both summer and winter, such as hiking trails, ski tracks, skate parks, swimming beaches, as well as lean-tos and campfire sites. In addition, the map features many of the city’s attractions – from devil’s fields and scenic lookouts to Stone Age dwellings.
“Nivala has always had a strong commitment to promoting exercise and well-being, which is evident in our investment in sports facilities. I believe Fluent Outdoors supports the development of physical activity by making it easy to highlight even more remote recreation areas and by broadening residents’ awareness of how extensive our network of facilities really is”, says Henri Heiska, Head of Sports Facilities in Nivala.
Fluent Outdoors supports the development of physical activity by making it easy to highlight even more remote recreation areas and by broadening residents’ awareness of how extensive our network of facilities really is.
Nivala has been using Fluent Outdoors to map its sports facilities for well over a decade. Interestingly, the city’s sports services are managed not directly by the municipality, but by a wholly owned subsidiary, Nivalan Liikuntakeskus Oy, which is responsible for all municipal sports-related services and facility maintenance.
“As an independent company, we have a broader capacity to influence and make decisions that promote physical activity”, Heiska notes.
Ski tracks and hiking trails are the most popular
With a population of around 10,000, Nivala wanted a platform that would be as user-friendly as possible for both residents and tourists, while also allowing for the display of up-to-date maintenance information – a much-requested feature, particularly for ski tracks.
“The main benefits of Fluent Outdoors are definitely its ease of use and its location-based features. Another key advantage is the ability to define specific maintenance areas for certain facilities, which allows residents to see when a particular site was last maintained”, Heiska explains.
The main benefits of Fluent Outdoors are definitely its ease of use and its location-based features.
As in many other municipalities, Nivala first adopted Fluent Outdoors to communicate the maintenance status of ski trails. Later, a city council initiative called for a service that could display all sports and outdoor locations in one place. This led to expanding the use of the platform to include all of Nivala’s recreational and outdoor destinations.
“Trail updates are still by far the most followed feature in winter, because passionate skiers like to track when ‘their trail’ was last groomed. Next in popularity are probably the nature and outdoor trails. Fluent makes it easy to see trail distances and routes, and attractions along the way can also be added to the service”, says Heiska.
Tourist attractions on the same platform
Recently, Nivala has also emphasized the city’s tourist attractions through the Näkyvä! project. According to Heiska, Fluent Outdoors proved to be a useful platform for this purpose as well.
“We decided together with the city that instead of building new websites or a separate platform for the project, we would simply add the points of interest to Fluent Outdoors, since the functionality was already there”, Heiska says.
As part of the project, the city has also produced multichannel content about the region’s sports, outdoor, and tourism locations, integrated with Fluent Outdoors.
“Now that the platform also includes tourist destinations, it certainly motivates people who aren’t using it just for sports, but who want to discover local attractions. Many of Nivala’s sights happen to be located along nature trails, making it convenient to combine a short hike with a visit to a local landmark”, Heiska concludes.
Nivala is a town of just over 10,000 inhabitants located in Southern Oulu region, in Northern Ostrobothnia. It offers the tranquility of the countryside as well as activities for people of all ages. Nivala is known as a lively agricultural municipality and the home of Finland’s largest industrial village. The town also invests heavily in leisure, sports, and culture.