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The award-winning geographic information system (GIS) team at Midpen is responsible for enabling all departmental staff, partner organizations and the community with highly accurate geographic data and innovative solutions. Since 2020, Midpen has hosted interns who have been tasked with collecting point data along Midpen's trails using a field data collection app. During field data collection, interns document trail conditions and obstacles through photographs.
The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen), an independent special district in the greater Santa Cruz Mountains region of Northern California, preserves a regional green belt of more than 70,000 acres of open space and facilitates opportunities for environmentally conscious public recreation and learning, including a 250-mile trail network. The award-winning geographic information system (GIS) team at Midpen is responsible for enabling all departmental staff, partner organizations and the community with highly accurate geographic data and innovative solutions.
To offer outstanding outdoor opportunities to the community, the Midpen GIS team carried out surveys to gain insights into trail visitors' preferences. The survey findings revealed a significant demand for more comprehensive trail information, particularly concerning the difficulty levels of the trails.
Community Needs
Jamie Hawk, the GIS program administrator at Midpen, emphasized the complexity of tailoring trails to individual preferences, leading to extensive internal discussions and collaboration with the planning department. One significant project that emerged from this discussion and the user surveys was the need for a web-based app, which became Trail Explorer. This GIS dashboard app is powered by a comprehensive trail information system involving the GIS team, as well as the planning and the land stewardship and trails departments, and works on mobile devices and computers. Public access to the detailed trail data is available via their open data site.
Two-thirds of the surveyed visitors agreed that awareness of trail steepness is critical to trip planning. Sun exposure and trail width were also ranked highly. These results subsequently informed the trail database design, data collection strategy and web application functionality.
Since 2020, Midpen has hosted interns who have been tasked with collecting point data along Midpen's trails using a field data collection app. The 8,000 data points collected include trail characteristics like tread type, surface and cross slope at 500-foot intervals. During field data collection, interns document trail conditions and obstacles through photographs. The GIS team then processes this point data, synthesizes it and color codes the average values onto the trail feature class to make the data user friendly. This process integrates slope elevation and canopy cover information into the GIS.
When planning a visit to the trails, members of the community can now access comprehensive trail information through the app. Visitors can filter for up to 10 different trail criteria, including slope, crossslope, width, surface type, sun exposure, accessibility and more.
This alternative approach to a traditional trail difficulty ranking system is unique and all-encompassing, allowing visitors of all mobilities and backgrounds to make informed decisions when planning an outing.
Continuing a Tradition of GIS Excellence
To maximize the impact of the app, the GIS team posted a flyer at the trailheads that has a QR code guiding visitors directly to the app. In addition, Trail Explorer was publicized via Midpen's social media outlets, its electronic and print newsletters, a story in the local newspaper, and via a tutorial video featured on its channel. A survey form also allows users to rate their experience with the app and suggest improvements.
The success of Trail Explorer 1s Just one example in the history of enterprise GIS excellence at Midpen. Its GIS team consists of four full-time staff who maintain a comprehensive GIS deployment that supports various innovative applications for departments across the organization, their partner organizations and the public. >
Adam Carnow is Industry Specialist at Esri.
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