How safe do you feel in the streets of Bogota, Jakarta or major cities in India such as Delhi and Chennai?
That’s a question the Safetipin app has been asking users since it launched in 2013 following the highly publicized case of a young woman gang raped on a bus in Delhi. The app crowdsources information on how safe a city is based on nine parameters, including lighting availability, visibility and a person’s own feeling of safety. This data helps inform other users — women in particular — which areas in a city are safe for travel or walking, particularly at night, and which ones are best avoided. A new feature allows friends and family members to monitor one’s whereabouts.
The app launched in Delhi, but has since expanded to other Indian cities, as well as overseas. In 2016, this included parts of Quezon City, a highly urbanized city in Metro Manila, with a population of nearly 3 million.
About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.