TRAIL FIT MAPPING Robert Waits Vanderbilt University Goals of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TRAIL FIT – MAPPING

Robert Waits – Vanderbilt University

Goals of Project Mapping

• Identify Information needed for development of an

Interactive Mobile Application ¡

• Find out what information is readily available and

determine the accuracy of that information ¡

• Gather information that is not available or inaccurate

but still needed ¡

• What is the best format to maintain the information?

Needed Information

• Approach from both a Hiker and Owner point of view ¡

– Location of trail ¡

• Future static and active states of tracking
• Ability to measure distances ¡

– Topography (Elevation Change) ¡ – Trail Amenities ¡ – Problem Areas ¡ – Trail Maintenance Features

What Information is Available

Standard NPS Maps

GIS Information from the NPS

• National Parks Service has 10 year old Shape files

that include ¡

– Trail layout for the entire Natchez Trace (Accurate) ¡ – Features (Inaccurate and

Incomplete) ¡

• Roads ¡
• Streams ¡
• Signs ¡
• Etc... ¡
• All Files were received in ArcMap format

What Information is Still Needed

• NPS feature information was inaccurate and

missing items that would be valuable to the project ¡

• Examples of needed data ¡

– Signs ¡ – Water Crossings ¡ – Driveways Crossings ¡ – Damaged Areas of Trail ¡ – Connecting Trails ¡ – Etc….

Collecting Information

• Time to Get TRAIL FIT!! ¡
• Test of information collection on the

first 9 miles of the Natchez Trace Trail ¡

– NPS Supplied GPS Units and materials to document features – Individuals Cell phones were used to take photos of each feature ¡ – Teams surveyed 2 miles of trail per team ¡ – NPS coordinated gathering of information

Information Maintenance

• A lot depends on the final format of the Mobile

Application ¡

• Existing parameters to keep in mind ¡

– This is an NPS site – Data should be useable by the owner ¡ – Information needs to be spatially correct for app use ¡

• Currently Keeping the information in an ArcMap

shape file format

QUESTIONS