Put a pin in it Mapping Winnipeg website has become a go-to resource By: AV Kitching Posted: 5:11 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

Carol Cassell could be the queen of understatement.

“It’s just my hobby,” she replies when asked to describe Mapping Winnipeg, the passion project she began in 2020 during the lonely and isolating days of the pandemic.

Not wanting to be stuck indoors and in an effort to retain “some semblance of sanity,” Cassell took her then 18-month-old baby to check out the playgrounds near her house, taking it upon herself to map them all out with Google pins and sharing the locations on Facebook.

“The information I shared of all these really amazing playgrounds was being received very well from parents who were in the same boat as me, parents just looking for something to do in Winnipeg during that time,” the stay-at-home mom says.

While the pandemic kickstarted the mapping-winnipeg.com site and its corresponding Facebook page, Mapping Winnipeg’s roots can be traced to 2015, when Cassell published the inaugural Winnipeg Halloween Map, following it up with Winnipeg Christmas Lights Map a year later.

“After the Christmas map had really taken off, I started seeing feedback from people wanting more maps. And something that stuck out to me were parents looking for things to do. That’s where the playground map came from,” she says.

Cassell, 37, credits the endeavour with keeping her motivated during a difficult period in her life. At the time, the new mother was grappling with post-partum depression.

“I had prenatal depression while I was pregnant, which just got worse after my daughter was born. I was suicidal. I was self-harming. I had non-stop intrusive thoughts and I was crying all the time barely able to handle life. It was horrible. I had it for three years before I got help, started medication and began going to regular therapy,” Cassell says.

“When you have depression it is very hard to find the energy to do anything. That little bit of dopamine from doing those maps helped keep me sane. I made the maps for myself so I could go out, but what really kept me motivated was knowing it was helping other people, too.”

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When she was 26, Cassell, bored in her retail job, sought guidance from a career counsellor.

He asked her what it was she really wanted to do so she told him the truth: she wanted to do something that helped other people.

“And when I told him that he laughed at me. He said, ‘Oh, everyone wants to do that.’ It was like being slapped in the face,” she says.

If only he could see her now.

“I try to make everything as accessible for every different kind of person.”

Cassell’s Mapping Winnipeg Facebook page has grown to 24,000 followers, a responsive community of parents and caregivers who chime in with their own experiences, jot down quick little reviews and make suggestions whenever she posts.

It’s the kind of organic engagement social media managers dream about — a relationship built on trust because Cassell, like them, is a parent. She’s been through what they’ve been through, she knows exactly what they’re looking for and she’s done all the hard work for them.

Cassell checks the page several times a day to answer questions and moderate in case followers step over the line. Luckily it’s not something she’s had to deal with on that particular page.

It has, however, become somewhat of an issue in two of her other Facebook groups — Winnipeg Halloween Map and Winnipeg Christmas Map, which have nearly 90,000 followers combined.

“This year I’ve noticed a rise in more racist and bigoted comments, a lot more hate than I’ve ever experienced before. Previously I’d have to get rid of one or two comments in a season and now I have to moderate almost every day,” she says.

“Anyone who makes hateful comments I just immediately remove and block from the group.”

“The process is much more chaotic and much less organized than you may imagine.”

On the Mapping Winnipeg website, there are 11 active maps covering everything from seasonal activities to thrift store locations to the ever-popular Winnipeg Playgrounds Map, which has 751,000 views and counting.

Cassell has been approached when out and about by people requesting what they would like to see on the site.

She chats with parents during special events she runs at her local community centre and has ongoing conversations with families and caregivers she meets at playgroups and during school pickup — invaluable community interactions that help her decide what to map next.

She’s also active on parenting groups and says one of the most repeated requests is for birthday party venues aimed at specific ages.

“When you Google ‘birthday party locations in Winnipeg’ the results are filtered. You don’t just see a list of every local business that offers parties; instead, it’s blogs and Reddit threads and advertisements and then a few actual local business websites. There is nothing comprehensive related to what you are looking for,” she shares.

“So I try to make everything as accessible for every different kind of person; by having maps, by having lists, by having photos… everything I can think of to make Winnipeg more accessible for families.”

One of Cassell’s more important ongoing projects is her map of free drop-in groups for families with newborns to five-year-olds, an important resource for those isolating early years of parenting.

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Cassell calls it a hobby, but there’s a lot involved to keep on top of a website, three Facebook pages and maps that need constant updates, especially if you’re doing it all by yourself.

She doesn’t use aggregators to compile her lists or web scrapers to trawl the internet, using keywords to pull everything into one handy file.

Working in the evenings with a show lined up on TV and all three of her devices — phone, laptop and desktop computer — she goes through new suggestions, searches for places to include in her maps and updates her 2,000 listings and pictures.

“The process is much more chaotic and much less organized than you may imagine. It’s just me digging through websites and photos to get information that is helpful to parents and caregivers. I tried using Chat GPT to pull basic information, but it wasn’t always accurate,” she says.

Accuracy is important to Cassell. She wants the information she provides to be up-to-date, correct and, most importantly, free.

Cassell is not interested in monetizing any aspects of Mapping Winnipeg. She has been approached by people with offers to turn the site into a passive income stream but has declined. She’s has no plans to paywall the site or make it it a subscription-only service.

“I had the monetization feature turned on on Facebook but I’ve made one cent, so I don’t know if I’m doing it right,” she says, laughing.

“I don’t want it to become like a job. I enjoy doing it as a hobby. I would love to do some sort of social media job one day, but not with Mapping Winnipeg. I enjoy that it’s free to everyone. I think information should be free. It’s important to me that it is as accessible as possible to everybody.”

Conceived as a way for her to meet her own needs, Cassell’s maps have grown far beyond that. Not only has she created an invaluable resource that addresses the needs of local families in a practical way, she’s also built a village of similarly minded parents and caregivers.

“I have gotten to meet so many different people by doing these maps. I feel like I’ve had dozens of interactions with people I never would have met, and I’ve learned a little more about what makes Winnipeg a great place to live. It matters to me that I am having a positive impact on other people’s lives and the lives of their children. It’s very rewarding to know it’s helping other people,” she says.

winnipegfreepress.com/avkitching