A free dedicated online and social media tool for monitoring real-time English and Welsh waterways information has been launched to help river users easily access the data they need for their hobby or work.

Shoothill GaugeMap, at www.gaugemap.co.uk, makes the huge volume of data collected at Environment Agency river level monitoring stations easily accessible at a local level, and user-friendly via a mobile-accessible website and for the first time via Twitter.

The system, developed by Shoothill brings the UK’s river systems to life for those who rely on them for their jobs. Thousands of new Twitter accounts have been created, one for each of the Environment Agency’s river level gauges, and the website allows users to search by name, location or status.

Data provided on the website gives the river level from the latest reading automatically and tweets are sent from each gauge twice a day. GaugeMap shows for the first time that an instant and holistic view of more than 2,400 Environment Agency river level gauges has been possible, building on Shoothill’s current flood mapping service FloodAlerts at www.shoothill.com/flood.

“There are approximately 10 million regular users of the river network and this tool has huge potential for a variety of users, whatever their reason for an interest in current river levels,” said Rod Plummer, MD at Shoothill. “GaugeMap gets relevant information to any user in a universally useful way.”

“Using GaugeMap users can assess when the conditions in their selected river network are right for them to go ahead with their activity. This means all users can be aware and take care of their river. GaugeMap is accessible from smartphones and tablets, meaning it can be accessed on the move for the very latest data,” continued MrPlummer.