Discovery Park

To the west is an area that is frequently used by the folks of the neighborhood for walks, time outside, and to catch a dash of fresh air. There is a trail that borders a fence just over a kilometer in length and all along that gravel path are other paths, coming and going, created by people. For whatever reason, I don't stray off the gravel path, the intention of my walks is to enjoy my time outside, I am in no hurry.

For the purpose of this project, I explored those other paths, created by who or when remains unknown, but their destinations are no longer secret. So, sit back and enjoy the micro-exploration that is about to unfold and the processes in which data were collected.

Points of Interest - A list of populated value fields of the potential points of interest within the park. The values are: Informative, Art, Natural, Other. Notes and photographs were also included with the data points for added documentation.

Entrances and Exits - Entrances and exits to this under-the-radar park are not always official and many are created by the users of the park. I used two input fields to collect these data points (1) Entrance Type which had the inputs of "official" or "user created" and (2) Signed which had inputs of "Signed" or "No".

Trails - The primary attraction of this park is the network of walking trails that take people away from roads and into a more natural setting. The trails have several variations, the primary difference being the surface type of the trail. The varying surface types were: dirt, vegetation, gravel, and mixed. Trail types were also a data field that needed collected, the two options were "Official" or "User Created". Trail width was another varying feature among the trails and the associated data values were: "single track" or "double track". Single track is a narrow trail that allows one user and double track allows for two users or a "coming and going" flow.

Areas of Interest - Throughout the walks that I have taken in the park I have taken notice to particular areas that caught my eye for whatever reason. I added the "Area of Interest" feature to include these eye-catching locations. The value fields for Areas of Interest are "Notes", "Photos", and "Unique Area" which includes one of the two available values Natural or User Created.

Using Trimble's GNSS planning website I was able to predict the accuracy of my GPS unit while I was out collecting data. I started my data collection at 2pm and the entire process lasted for roughly 1.5 hours. During that time I had great circumstances for data collection.

The map below is displaying the raw data that was collected during my collection period. As one may notice, many features, especially the trails, do align and are slightly skewed or "off".

In order to create a more useful and aesthetic map I took the data into ArcGIS Pro and performed a bit of editing. The primary editing I undertook was the alignment and correction of paths. I also found that it was important to change the symbology of the features to better display their recorded values such as trail surface type, the variety of points of interest, and entrance types.

Points of Interest - Of the 12 points of interest 50% were other, 25% were Art, and 25% were Informative.

Entrances and Exits - A majority of the entrances and exits were user created (4) and only two were official.

Trails

• All of the 16 trails with the exception of one were user created.
• A gravel surface type was found on the only official trail and one other short path.
• Of the remaining 14 trails, 8 are dirt and 6 are vegetation surface types.
• There were 4 double track trails and 12 single track trails.
• The shortest trail was 9 meters and the longest trail was 1305 meters
• The sum of the trail lengths was 2.91 kilometers

Areas of Interest

The total area of all the "Areas of Interest" was 3.4 acres or 10.3% of the total area. All of the areas of interest were influenced by human activity including soil compression, tree and shrub removal, and excavation. The polygons on the north end of the map and their associated activities foreshadow the development of that area.

This project was a great opportunity to take some time to explore and map out a "park" that I use frequently. It was neat to find all of the optional walking paths and include some variety in my future walks. It was not so neat to see that the north end of the area appears to be preparing for development, hopefully that process doesn't remove the walking pa.th

I thought the process to set up fieldmaps was straight forward, but that was before I went out to the field the first time. After walking around I not only discovered that I couldn't submit any data due to a "null error" I also didn't have all the value fields I needed to have. Lesson learned, test your collection at home.

I can see this process and application being very useful for gaining a better understanding of an area by allowing the user to view selected data from an aerial perspective. It also encourages the user to go out and take note of certain aspects which encourages a heightened sense of situational awareness.