GIS for People & Parks

@jerememonteau from @trailheadlabs #GISDay #BendTECH
Geographic Information Systems
Of the people, by the people, for our parks!

GIS For People & Our Parks
GIS started as obscure technology used by pros.
GIS has been democratized and now everyone can
use it.
This is enabling really awesome things for people
& parks. That’s why we’re excited!
I’m going to tell you all about it.

Wait a minute. Who am I?
Jereme Monteau
Co-Founder and CTO of Trailhead Labs
(We help park agencies get you outside!)
Born and raised in Alaska
16 years in the Bay Area
Relocated to Bend 8 weeks ago!

OK, back to GIS
It started out small and obscure. Only for pros.
It turns out to be really useful, especially for parks!
Now it’s huge and can used by everyone. *
* - This is really important. More on that later.

“The early days of GIS were
very lonely. No-one knew
what it meant.”
Roger Tomlinson

GIS is super useful!
Everything happens somewhere.
We use GIS to make important decisions every day.
GIS has probably impacted at least one decision of
yours today.
It’s critical for managing our amazing public
lands. We specialize in that at Trailhead Labs.

“Knowing where things are,
and why, is essential to
rational decision making.”
Jack Dangermond

GIS is kind of a big deal now!
Everybody is getting in the game and that’s great!
But still...it’s pretty fundamental...
Geographic = about geography
Information = structured data
System = cooperative pieces

GIS In Practice = Software + Data
Software that does geographic computation really
really well.
Information about geographic coordinates and
shapes. Location, location, location!
Results are analytical models and visualizations
and much much more.

GIS Software Runs Everywhere
We put a PC in every home.
Now there are billions of smartphones.
Browsers and JavaScript are literally everywhere.
GIS Software exists for all platforms now.

GIS Software For Everything
ArcGIS & QGIS - Desktop & Online GIS
Esri-Leaflet & Leaflet - Web Maps
Esri Geometry Engine - Java Parallel Processing
TerraFormer & Turf.js - JavaScript Geospatial
Collect & AmigoCloud - Mobile Data Collection
Maplets - Georeferrenced PDFs

Data Coming From Everywhere
Storage is basically free
The network is ubiquitous and getting faster
Apps & sensors of all kinds are proliferating
Cultural default is shifting from private to open
The result is massive amounts of available data!

So what about parks?
Park agencies are sitting at the intersection of a
bunch of great GIS technology, a bunch of
awesome data
But everyone has to do more with less and things
change fast. Keeping up is hard work.
By the time you start running there’s a new race.

Park Agency Decisions
What space should be for recreation?
Where should we manage for fun and safe
mountain biking?
What space should be for conservation?
Where do we need better signs?

Park Visitor Decisions
Where are the parks and trails?
How do I get to them?
Where can I go mountain biking?
Where can I see wildlife?
Where can I walk my dog?

We Serve Park Agencies
Help parks manage their data in GIS and
publish it to visitors in convenient ways!
Get the best information out to visitors.
Improve data quality and user experience.

What does this look like?
Web authoring tools built on GIS data.
Embeddable interactive park maps.
Publishing data via REST API and OpenTrails
A platform for gathering and improving data.
Powerful tools for understanding visitation.

A Tale of Many Trails
Trails are managed for specific uses.
Trails are managed to be safe.
Trails are managed to minimize impact.
But trails kind of look the same on the ground.
So we have to publish good information!

Please take the right trail
and don’t kill us!

Trail Data is Everywhere
Agencies manage trail data in GIS.
Trail data also exists in other public data sources.
Applications are recording trail visitor usage.
We brought them all together.

Because GIS is democratized!
Many components of GIS could be combined.
Data is contributed at scale by the crowd.
Creates a new picture of the world.
Allows for better decisions by agencies and visitors.

Stories like this are everywhere.
Conservation & Climate Change
Disaster Preparedness & Relief
Transportation
Health & Human Services

“The application of GIS is
limited only by the
imagination of those who
use it.”
-Jack Dangermond

“In outer space you develop an instant global consciousness, a people
orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and
a compulsion to do something about it.”
Edgar Mitchell
Apollo 14

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