May 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 56

Sun Charge

Sun Charge Systems solar powered charging station is an environmentally friendly, self-contained power system.
Our
charging stations are built to provide access to electrical outlets
for the purpose of charging personal electronic devices such as
cell phones, tablets and laptops.
The charging station converts
clean solar energy to electricity
and contains ports so that USB
or 12 volt chargers can be used
to power devices in areas where
conventional electrical outlets
are unavailable.

Sun Charge Systems
57 Arena Drive
Cleveland, AL 35049
205.274.7002
www.sunchargesystems.com

54 Parks & Recreation

Continued from page 52
was considered taboo and often
criticized, but now geocaching,
self-guided trails with QR codes,
live streaming, free Wi-Fi, education technology and virtual hikes
are all examples of ways a park
can use technology to enhance a
connection to nature.
Your park can provide an
old-fashioned treasure hunt, with
geocaching (www.geocaching.
com). Georgia State Parks has
utilized this technology in two
ways - a Parks GeoTour, with
caches hidden in more than 40
state parks throughout the state,
and a History Trail GeoTour,
where the combination of the
treasure is revealed only after
participants have learned about
the site's history. Because of the
popularity and demand for geocaching, numerous parks now
host FAQs, rules and/or applications for permits to place a cache
on their websites.
QR Codes (www.qr-code-generator.com) on signs along self-guided trails can enhance educational
experiences. With a click of the
phone, parkgoers can learn about
nature, wildlife, historic sites and
more throughout the park. There
are field guides developed specifically for this purpose. Union County Parks in New Jersey, has installed
tree signage with QR codes that
immediately provide information
and illustrations with everything
you would want to know about a
tree, from how it propagates to the
region it inhabits.
Live streaming gives recreation
organizations the opportunity to
engage parkgoers at home with
everything from the popular ea-

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gle cam to watching city council meetings. The city of North
Myrtle Beach and the town of
Mooresville, North Carolina, provide access to live events at their
baseball and softball fields so little
league fans can watch and cheer
from anywhere. Other recreation
departments have placed webcams on everything from parking
lots to trailheads.
During the past few years, parks
from coast to coast have rolled
out free Wi-Fi. In some cases, WiFi equipment and maintenance
has been privately funded. San
Francisco, for example, received a
$600,000 gift from Google and Los
Angeles Wi-Fi was supported by
Toyota. Charleston, South Carolina, has a website (www.chsfreewifi.
com) dedicated to information on
its free Wi-Fi that offers FAQ, support, limitations (three hours) and
even the possibility of creating a
unique network for events.
Contests have always been a
popular way to engage parkgoers,
and with social media, it's easy
to take it online! Create a specific hashtag for your contest, like
the #OurWakeCountyParks or
#abileneparksandrec, and follow
the entries on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram. Parks are using
these contests as an easy and fun
way to celebrate Park and Recreation Month in July.
Technology in and for parks is
limitless. Tech has become an important way to connect with nature and, therefore, important for
organizations to continually investigate modern ways to engage
parkgoers.
Karen Zgonc is the Marketing Director
for REC1 (www.rec1.com).

May 2016 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2016 - Parks & Recreation