24°C | Thursday February 26, 2026 
16 November 2023
By Hannah Wilcox
A new online project has been launched giving women and gender diverse people statewide the opportunity to mark safe and unsafe locations to walk.
YourGround is an online initiative aimed to improve safety in public spaces, inviting women and gender diverse people to anonymously share their story on an interactive map.
It launched on Wednesday following a previous successful trial in Victoria in 2021 which saw 6000 responses statewide during the submission period.
Mapping platform CrowdSpot, in collaboration with Monash University’s XYX Lab, created YourGround to ‘report on the experience of women and gender diverse people in New South Wales’, and will publish the research to advocate for change – identifying challenges and solutions faced by women and gender diverse people on both a national and international scale.
Five spots have been marked within the North Sydney LGA, with three labelled safe and two unsafe.
The pathway off Bay Road in Waverton was marked unsafe after dark by ‘RR’, reading: “Feels isolated, Hard to see what and who is around, Lighting is bad, There are no people around.”
“This is the fastest and most direct path from Waverton Station to home but feels very unsafe at night. Visibility is poor, can’t see around bends and dimly lit. I add an extra 15 mins to my daily commute by getting off at a different station and walking in safer areas.”
‘Lowernorthshoreadventures’ shared they felt unsafe after dark on the pathway between High Street and McDougall Street in Kirribilli.
“Bad vibes, Feels isolated, There are no people around, Hard to see what and who is around, Lighting is bad.”
“The pathway leading from High Street to McDougall Street is dimly lit and isolated at night. I have bumped into dodgy characters standing in the dark here before, you have to turn a blind corner. Now I add an extra 15 minutes to the walk home and go around instead.”
Meanwhile, ‘Budgie’ shared Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden in Lavender Bay as a safe spot anytime of day, writing: “Good vibes, There are other people around, I know this place well. Just a lovely space someone has created with imagination and love.”
They also marked Sawmillers Reserve in McMahons Point and Waverton’s Coal Loader as safe during daylight.
Good vibes,” ‘Budgie’ wrote of Sawmillers Reserve.
“[It] has [a] really good feeling. Beautiful nature but feels like a good space for women – not sure why exactly, just does. There’s a vibe.”
The path condition at the Coal Loader is good, wide and even, they wrote.
“It’s easy to see what’s around me, It’s easy to find my way around, It’s well maintained, Good vibes, There are other people around, There are good amenities here.”
“Really nice place, lots of interesting things to do. Beautiful.”
The project is helmed by Dr Nicole Kalms, who said there was a “general data gap” about how women and gender diverse people navigate public spaces.
“I think that this project speaks to the spectrum of violence against women and gender diverse people, that it isn’t just about intimate partner violence and women’s safety, it is about all aspects of social life,” Dr Kalms told ABC News.
“This research illuminates the kind of hotspots where there might be issues – both positive and negative.
“But we can also see where there might be issues for particular groups of women and gender diverse people, particular age groups or ethnicities, for example, that might be having issues,” she added.
The research was largely propelled by “horrible things that happen to women”, Dr Kalms said.
“It’s absolutely relentless this conversation that we’re having to have all the time around violence against women.”
The online map will take submissions until February 2024.
It can be viewed here