Building the splash pad universe
Every major moment the SplashPadHub directory has hit since launch — from the first domain registration through 1,020 Q&A entries, six languages, 70 state matchups, 51 state map pages, and a fully agent-native API surface. Maintained by editors, sourced from git history and editorial notes.
By category
Anchors jump to the first milestone in that category below.
April 2026
- Launch
Domain registered, repo initialized
splashpadhub.com was registered and the Next.js 16 App Router scaffold landed in a fresh repo. The project follows a directory-build playbook: Bun runtime, Biome lint, Vitest tests, Tailwind v4, Leaflet for maps, and a static-first export model. The first commit set up the monorepo conventions, the path alias `@/` to `src/`, the seed data folder, and the constraint that every page must be statically pre-rendered. No design yet — just the skeleton that everything else would grow on top of.
- Data
Seed dataset of 866 splash pads validated
The first verified dataset of 866 splash pads across all 50 states plus DC was committed to `data/seed/pads.json`. Each entry carried name, address, city, state, coordinates, features, and cost where known. The validation pipeline (`bun run validate`) confirmed schema integrity, geocoding accuracy, and de-duplication across spelling variants of the same park. This seed became the geographic skeleton the directory still builds on — every state page, city page, comparison, and best-of list resolves back to a row in this file.
- Feature
Interactive national map with marker clusters live
Leaflet + Marker Cluster shipped at /map, rendering all 866 pads as a clustered national map with state-level zoom, search-by-bounds, and per-pad popup cards linking to the canonical pad page. The clustering threshold and color ramp were tuned to keep the map readable at every zoom level — from 'all of America' down to a single neighborhood. The same map component now powers /map/[state] and the embedded map on every state page.
- Content
First 12 state guides published
The first wave of long-form state guides — Texas, California, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, and Washington — went live at /best-splash-pads/[state]. Each guide ran roughly 1,200 words, opened with an AEO-formatted direct answer, and ended with a state-specific FAQ block. These twelve states represented the bulk of US splash pad inventory and gave search engines a strong initial topical footprint to crawl.
- Content
Q&A bank shipped — first 60 entries
The first editorial Q&A bank launched at /qa with 60 entries covering safety, age recommendations, hours, free admission, accessibility, and seasonality. Every Q&A used the AEO format the directory still uses today: a 30-60 word direct answer up top, a longer explainer below, and a tag set for cross-linking. This bank seeded the structured-data layer (FAQPage JSON-LD) that AI search engines use to surface the directory in answer panels.
- Feature
Family planner + quiz tools shipped
Two interactive tools shipped on the same day: the family planner at /planner (pick features, age range, budget; get a ranked pad list) and the splash pad quiz at /quiz (six questions, one personalized recommendation). Both ran fully client-side against the seed dataset — no backend required. The planner became the directory's most-used utility tool by analytics within a week of launch, beating even the map for sessions-per-user.
- Feature
Hyper-local /[state]/[city] pages — full coverage
Every (state, city) tuple in the seed dataset got its own statically pre-rendered page at /[state]/[city]. Each page emits LocalBusiness + TouristAttraction + AggregateRating + FAQPage JSON-LD, lists every pad in the city with map embed and feature chips, and links to nearby cities and the parent state guide. This was the moment the directory became map-pack-ready: hundreds of city pages all targeting 'splash pads in {city}' searches with full structured data.
- Press
First press kit + research dataset published
The press room shipped at /press, /press-kit, and /press/quotes — brand assets, founder bio, pull quotes, and a press contact. Alongside it, /research went live with the directory's first downloadable dataset under CC BY 4.0: the verified pad index, the state coverage table, and the free-vs-paid split. Journalists got a structured way to cite SplashPadHub data without scraping pages.
- Content
Newsletter + first 8 weekly digests archived
The /newsletter signup launched alongside the first eight weekly digest templates archived at /digest/[slug]. Each digest spotlighted a pad of the week, a regional pick, and one accessibility or safety tip. The digest archive served two purposes: a recurring content surface for returning visitors, and a programmatic SEO surface that quietly added 8 new indexable pages on day one of newsletter launch.
- Infra
JSON API surface goes live — 6 endpoints
The first six public JSON endpoints shipped under /api: pads.json, states.json, qa.json, blog.json, sitemap.json, and llms-full.json. All read-only, no auth, no rate limit, 24-hour edge cache, CC BY 4.0. This was the directory's first formal commitment to being agent-friendly: any AI crawler or downstream tool could pull the full dataset without scraping HTML. The endpoint count would more than double in the weeks that followed.
May 2026
- Content
Comparisons + glossary shipped
Two AEO-targeted surfaces went live the same day: /vs (splash pad vs spray park, vs wading pool, vs water playground, vs pool, etc.) and /glossary (defined terms across equipment, surfaces, supervision, and operations). Both were direct-answer formatted to win 'what is X' and 'X vs Y' head questions. The glossary alone added 40 indexable definition pages, each cross-linked from the Q&A bank and feature deep-dives.
- Content
Top 100 splash pads in America launched
The flagship editorial ranking shipped at /top-100 with full criteria, scoring methodology, and per-pad cards. Each entry earned its rank from a composite score of features (toddler zone, accessibility, shade), free admission, recirculation, and visit volume. The ranking became the directory's most-shared single page — shared by parks departments, picked up in regional news, and referenced in three case studies within the first week.
- Language
Spanish state guides — top 25 Hispanic-population states
The first multilingual surface shipped: full Spanish state guides at /es/[state] for the 25 US states with the largest Hispanic populations — Texas, California, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and beyond. Every guide was a full localized rewrite, not a machine translation: idiomatic Spanish, locally relevant feature notes, and Spanish FAQ schema. This was the moment the directory became a credible bilingual resource.
- Content
First Q&A bank shipped — 60 entries milestone
Q&A bank #1 closed at exactly 60 entries, becoming the foundation of /qa as a recurring content surface. Editorial protocol locked in: every new Q&A had to ship with a 30-60 word direct answer, a long-form explainer, a tag set, and a slug stable enough to be cited externally. This protocol has held across every subsequent Q&A bank without revision.
- Content
70 state-vs-state comparison matchups live
The /state-vs surface shipped 70 head-to-head state comparisons — Texas vs California, Florida vs Arizona, Ohio vs Pennsylvania, and dozens more. Each matchup compared pads per million residents, free-vs-paid split, season length, and feature density, with a verdict paragraph for relocation and road-trip queries. This single launch added 70 pages of pure programmatic SEO surface targeted at high-intent comparative searches.
- Content
15 case studies + 30 blog posts published
Two long-form content surfaces filled out at the same time: 15 parks-department case studies at /case-studies (capital stacks, operations, attendance, lessons learned) and 30 blog posts at /blog (safety, etiquette, accessibility, seasonality, family planning). Both surfaces gave the directory editorial weight beyond the structured listings — the kind of depth that makes journalists comfortable citing the site as a primary source rather than just a database.
- Language
Six languages live — French, Italian, Portuguese, German added
The multilingual surface expanded from one to six languages on a single deploy: English, Spanish, French (/fr), Italian (/it), Portuguese (/pt), and German (/de). French added both state guides and city guides for the most-visited US destinations by Québécois snowbirds and Francophone travelers. Italian, Portuguese, and German added state-level guides for their respective American diaspora communities. Total non-English pages crossed 200 the same day.
- Content
1,020 Q&A entries across 17 banks
Q&A entry #1,020 was committed, finishing bank #17. The full library now answered every reasonable question a parent, traveler, parks director, or AI agent could ask about splash pads in America — from 'are they free' (yes, ~94% of the directory) to the operational specifics of recirculation, MAHC compliance, and sensory-friendly programming. Each bank stayed under 70 entries to keep individual JSON payloads small and edge-cacheable.
- Data
51 state map pages — every state + DC covered
Every US state plus the District of Columbia received its own dedicated map page at /map/[state] — 51 pages in total, all statically pre-rendered with state-specific bounds, marker clusters, and embedded city links. This closed the geographic-coverage loop: every pad in the seed dataset was now reachable from at least three discovery paths (national map, state map, city page) and every state had a canonical entry point.
- Feature
/timeline regional sub-timelines launched
The /timeline surface expanded from a single national chronology into seven regional sub-timelines (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Mountain West, Southwest, Pacific). Each regional view filtered the master timeline to milestones relevant to that region's parks departments and climate context. This made the timeline tool useful for grant writers and parks directors — they could now hand stakeholders a region-specific slide instead of a national overview.
- Content
Industry history article published
The 2,000-word /history deep dive went live, walking through the six eras of splash pad evolution: 1990s prototype era, 2000-2005 municipal pilot wave, 2005-2012 suburban explosion, 2012-2018 recirculating mainstream, 2018-2024 equity and accessibility era, and 2024-2026 sensor-driven climate-resilient era. The article cited primary public-record sources (CDC MAHC, ADA standards, NRPA, Phoenix Parks) plus manufacturer timelines from Vortex, Waterplay, and Rain Drop, marked as industry estimates.
- Infra
/api/llms-full.json + /api/discover.json shipped
Two AI-agent endpoints shipped to make the directory first-class for LLM crawlers. /api/llms-full.json bundled every Q&A, glossary term, blog post, and state guide into a single agent-readable JSON payload — the equivalent of llms-full.txt but structured. /api/discover.json indexed every URL on the site by category and priority, giving agents a discovery manifest more useful than the XML sitemap. Both endpoints landed CC BY 4.0 and 24-hour edge-cached.
- Content
24 weeks of newsletter digests archived
The newsletter digest archive crossed 24 issues — six months of weekly content templates archived at /digest/[slug]. Each issue stayed evergreen by design: pad-of-the-week, regional pick, and one feature explainer, all written so the digest still made sense when read months after publication. This converted the newsletter from a one-shot send into a permanent indexable archive of 24+ pages.
- Infra
/api/sitemap.json + full developer surface live
The /developers hub launched with full API documentation, embed codes, and a JSON-feed integration guide. /api/sitemap.json shipped alongside it as a structured manifest of every URL on the site (category, priority, changefreq, lastmod). The endpoint count crossed 18, every endpoint was documented, and every documented endpoint was free to use under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The directory was now fully agent-native per the Krieger × Shipper framework.
- Launch
Stats + milestones pages — credibility surface complete
The /stats page shipped with every count computed live at build time (pad count, state coverage, Q&A total, multilingual reach, programmatic SEO surface, tools, APIs) and the /milestones page captured the directory's origin story. Together with /history, /research, /coverage, /press, and /changelog, the credibility surface was complete: any journalist, parks director, or AI agent could verify what SplashPadHub had built, when, and how — all under CC BY 4.0.
Methodology
This list is maintained by editors. New milestones are added monthly as the directory ships new content surfaces, language support, data updates, and infrastructure. Each entry is cross-checked against the underlying git history and the editorial planning notes that accompany every major release.
What counts as a milestone. A shipped feature, a content surface crossing a round number, a new language, a new data drop, a new API endpoint, or a press / external-attention moment. Bug fixes, copy edits, and incremental performance tuning are tracked on /changelog instead.
Source of truth. git log + editorial notes. Numbers shown on this page are verified against the live counts on /stats. If a milestone date and the matching commit disagree, the commit wins and the page is corrected on the next deploy.
License. Every milestone on this page is free to cite under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: SplashPadHub.com.
Related pages
Live build-time counts: pads, states, cities, Q&A, comparisons, multilingual reach, APIs.
The 30-year industry arc: prototype era, suburban explosion, recirculating mainstream, equity, sensors.
Auto-generated commit-level log. Every shipped feature, fix, and content update.
Open datasets and methodology. CC BY 4.0, free to cite.