Visit Harford Trail Map

Abstract

This project focused on creating an interactive and searchable map of the most popular trails in Harford County for the use on the Visit Harford website. This report provides background on previously available searchable and interactive trail mapping, describes in detail what the project’s goals, discusses the data collection process, including where the data was collected from and qualitative data sought out. A significant amount of data about Harford County Trails is available online, but it is not consolidated in one place. If a visitor to Harford County wants to find a trail for hiking or biking, there are numerous incomplete data sources and maps provided by jurisdictions and independent organizations. The purpose of this project is to consolidate information on Harford County’s most popular trails so that visitors and residents have easier access to the beauty of Harford County through its comprehensive network of state parks, county parks, and trails. This report also describes how data was gathered and manipulated to suit this project. It also discusses the methodology, analysis, and visualization of the data. The primary purpose of this report is to explain how the team used the data collected for mapping purposes, as well as the project’s results. It includes a tutorial of how to use the final product with an analysis of how it might be used on the Visit Harford site. This new interactive tool can benefit Harford County residents and tourists alike. Ultimately, the interactive map will be incorporated into an app that visitors to Harford County will be able to use to find not just trails, but other attractions, such as dining, lodging, and entertainment. Visit Harford is the destination marketing organization of Harford County, Maryland with the goal of driving more tourism activity in Harford County. Their website includes many attractions for both residents and tourists. Through the PALS program, our class was tasked with providing the County with improved spatial data for tourist attractions in Harford County, making the County more navigable for those seeking to get the most out of their visits in and around Harford County. Our group was assigned to Harford County’s trails. At the project’s outset, Harford County did not have any kind of trail map that visitors could use. Additionally, the Visit Harford County website only had a list of trails in the county, without any meaningful qualitative data about the trails. In fact, the list of trails was included in the list of parks as a combined list of parks and trails.1 Our group was tasked with creating an up-to-date trails inventory with qualitative data about each trail, and then represent that data in an interactive map. There is currently no interactive format nor a single place for visitors to research trails. The only option is the Parks & Trails website where trails are consolidated with the parks. But not all trails are included, and the site doesn’t include a map.