As we progress further into Phase 2 of post-Circuit Breaker, we should continue to adhere to safety precautions such as wearing masks, maintaining a safe distance from others and keeping our hands clean.
*First published Jul 2020, updated May 2021 in view of Phase 2 enhanced measures.
And while we should try to stay at home as much as possible (especially when we’re sick), with so many places in Singapore reopening, from libraries and museums to attractions, it is understandable if you want to go out with your family.
Source: Aloysius Chow/Straits Times
We’ve compiled a list of free tools that will help you to check the crowd status of different places across Singapore that you may wish to visit. That way, you’ll still be able to enjoy your day out while keeping away from the crowd and at a safe distance from others.
1. Google Maps
Source: Google Maps/Screenshot
Google Maps has a handy feature called ‘Popular times’. You can find it under the information of a place, it shows how busy the place gets at different times of the day in the form of a bar graph. Not all places have a popular times feature; Shopping malls, big parks and popular attractions are just some of the places that do. Some of these malls and attractions will also show live visit data. Overlaid on the popular times' graph, this data shows how active the location is currently.
The popular times and live visit data are collected from users who have opted into Google Location History, which means visitors who opted out of the Google Location History will not be counted in the data. While the graph cannot be taken as the true value, it serves as a great gauge if you’re planning a trip somewhere and want to avoid jostling with the crowd.
2. Space Out
Source: Space Out/Screenshot
Space Out is a website that indicates crowd levels in shopping malls, supermarkets, markets, post offices, and stadiums across Singapore. The colored shapes on the map will show you the level of the crowdedness of a place: a dark red pentagon indicates that the place is max, an orange square shows that it’s crowded and a yellow diamond means some crowd while a green circle means it’s not crowded.
Additionally, each place also has a chart of recent trends, which can be pretty handy. Instead of heading down only to get stuck in a long snaking queue, you can plan to not just keep a safe distance from others but also from the crowd.
Launched by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the data on crowd levels are shared by the respective operators. For easier access, you can add the site to your homepage instead of opening a new window every time you need to use Space Out.
3. Safe Distance @ Parks
Source: Safe Distance @ Parks/Screenshot
Social and recreational activities such as having picnics, photography, taichi, kite-flying, and playing ball games, are permitted in parks subjected to not more than five people in a group. You are also required to keep a safe distance of at least one metre between members of your group as well as other visitors, which would be a hard feat if the park is crowded. And that’s where National Parks Board’s Safe Distance @ Parks comes in.
The way it works is similar to Space Out. Colored shapes dot across Singapore in a map, showing you the visitorship status of a park: an orange square shows high visitorship status and you’re encouraged to not visit the particular area in the moment, a yellow diamond indicates moderate visitorship, and a green circle implies low visitorship.
4. Library Crowd Status
Visitors to the the National Library, 26 public libraries, the National Archives of Singapore and the Former Ford Factory will need to make advance online bookings at https://go.gov.sg/library-
You may also check the real-time crowd capacity of the individual libraries and venues on the NLB website or via the NLB mobile app.Â
5. Daiso Crowd Status
Source: Daiso Crowd Status/Screenshot
If you’re thinking about heading down to DAISO for some retail therapy, then I’ve got a piece of good news for you. Instead of fretting about whether the outlet is crowded or not, you can find out for yourself with Daiso Crowd Status. The website provides live updates on the crowd status of all their outlets at different times of the day. Â
