June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 45

T

here's a whisper of excitement when it comes to using GPS

and GIS technology in the nation's

parks, not only in terms about what has taken place thus far but the future of how it will
change the recreational experience for parkgoers and operators.
GPS (Global Positioning System) locates a
point with coordinates, while GIS (geographic information system) concentrates on storing
and analyzing that information. As Applied
Geographics GIS Project Manager Priya Sankalia describes
the technologies, if someone is
using Google to access coordinates for a restaurant, it can be
located by GPS. But the data attached to the restaurant, such as
a description of its attributes, is
the GIS information associated
with its GPS coordinates.

" One way to think about it is if you could combine a
spreadsheet with a map, " says Thomas Harrington, marketing manager for Applied Geographics. " There's a sort
of functionally-software-that enables you to manage the
location of a feature on a map and associate it with all sorts
of characteristics. "
This, in turn, opens a new world of information for parks.
NRPA's newly launched GIS model allows users to be more
organized in the management and planning of park and
recreation resources. Applied Geographics worked on
the NRPA GIS data model, compiling such information as
a park's location, name, size, and status (private or public).
" Then, we looked at the issue of trails and their descriptors
(are they paved?) and recreational facilities (does they have
benches or ball fields?), " Harrington explains.
Out on the trail, a facility manager could use the system
to flag the coordinates of a park bench in need of repair.
Bill Beckner, NRPA research manager, says the system
works much like Photoshop, with layers on top of layers,
each with its own specific data to draw a complete portrait.
" As you go through the process of developing and using
the GPS to locate things and put them into the system, you
can create a database of all the assets-
park land, trail, and facility types you own.
It runs the gamut from preschools to cemeteries, " Beckner says.
From a basic standpoint, GIS has the
advantage of being an inventory of assets
that make for an easy reference for everything a park is responsible for maintaining. For example, as part of the process
for a 2003 stateside inventory review of
Kansas Parks, Sid Stevenson, associate
professor of the Department of Horticulture, Forestry and Recreation Resources
at Kansas City University, teamed up with
the director of state parks for Kansas to try
GIS instead of pen and paper. The process
took two and one-half years but now all
the information is available for the public,
which can utilize this technology to search
for specific parks.

GPS and GIS are transforming what we know about parks
	

www.NRPA .ORG

JUNE 2010

Parks & Recreation	 43



June 2010 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2010 - Parks & Recreation

June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 1
June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 2
June 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 3
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