For the past couple of months we’ve been quietly working away on a really exciting project with NHS Scotland. Now that it has officially launched, we can tell you all about it

Each year NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Glasgow City Council hosts a staff walking challenge (Active Staff) during which participants work in a small team and count their individual daily steps taken. The team’s steps are totalled and added towards a distance target. Up until now, this has been done manually with thousands of emails, spreadsheets and manic step-counting.

But the Active Staff challenge is walking towards a bright new future with the launch of our website, iPhone and Android apps to help make this monumental task a lot easier – and fun!

We took the existing World Walking (worldwalking.org) system and app and started to work out how we could develop this into a standalone solution for both the NHS and Glasgow City Council staff. With enthusiastic responses for our initial concepts from the client, we set to work on planning, designing and building the apps and website, working with our resident mobile developers and friends, Michael Park and Fergus Howe.

This year’s ‘virtual’ route allows teams of 5 to race the Queen’s Baton Relay around the Scottish leg of the tour, starting in Edinburgh and ending in Glasgow at Celtic Park on 20th July 2014. Participants can log in to the mobile app or website to add their distance in steps, kilometers or miles as well as tracking their walk accurately using the app’s GPS tracker feature. Teams compete for 1st place on the leaderboard, plus individuals can gain achievements for their activity and distance.

Over 4,100 staff users have signed up for the 2014 challenge using our new apps and we look forward to seeing the results and feedback in the next few weeks. Let the challenge begin!

Note: Registration is limited to NHS and Glasgow City Council staff only – a valid payroll number is required.