RecWell might have solved a problem for University of Maryland students like freshman Dhananjay Sharma, who dislikes working out in a crowded gym.

A feature on the right-hand side of the University Recreation & Wellness hours page visually represents how full the gyms on the campus are. This feature replaces the webcams that were in Eppley Recreation Center’s weight room and fitness center, said Kate Maloney, RecWell’s communications coordinator.

“I think it would be really useful because sometimes it’s really crowded, so I can’t use the machines I want to use. So now I can go at a later time when the gyms are less full,” said Sharma, a computer science major. “I think it could really help out UMD students and motivate people to go to the gym who are afraid to go when a lot of people are there.”

Maloney said this tool is intended to inform students about the facilities and their capacity before they trek across the campus.

“The most important thing to know about it is that it’s a test at this point and is very much in beta mode,” Maloney said. “We are seeing how it works and figuring out the kinks.”

Student staff supervisors at each gym report a count of the people currently using the facilities, which is used to determine how busy the spaces are, Maloney said. The feature is updated an hour after the most recent facility count, and the time of the update is shown at the bottom.

The feature reports on how full the fitness center, weight room, east gym and west gym in the ERC are, as well as Ritchie Coliseum and the School of Public Health Building fitness center and weight room.

Each gym area has a corresponding circle, and the more people are in that area, the fuller the circle gets, Maloney said.

The circle also changes color based on how full the gym is. Green indicates low use, yellow means medium use, red shows high use and gray means the gym is currently closed, Maloney said.

Chris Ngo, part of the weight fitness staff at the ERC, did not know about the new feature.

“I think that it is a wonderful addition to the website,” Ngo said. “The gym is packed to its capacity and patrons have a hard time finding equipment to use, so it’s a really useful feature to have.”

So far RecWell has not received feedback about the feature, but there is a possibility of expanding it, depending on how it works out, Maloney said.