Cayuga Trails Club Builds Inventory Map with Google

mapped section in long map view

from the Cayuga Trails Club

With trail organizations, including the NCTA, needing to work on creating a data base of structures on their trail, the Cayuga Trails Club (CTC) of New York has taken advantage of Google's free Maps program. The CTC maintains about 90 miles of the Finger Lakes Trail system. 23 of those miles are official North Country Trail miles, but more are concurrent without being certified.

With Google Maps the club entered the route of the trail, and then each flag shows the location of a structure. One can zoom in and out, and change the map type from political to terrain, to a satellite view.

mapped segment south of Ithaca, New York, in terrain view

mapped segment southwest of Ithaca, New York, in satellite view

Finally, you can click on any flag, or a list in the sidebar, to see the feature located at that point. Here a group displays some picnic tables.

pop-up box appears when a flag is clicked

Data inventories such as this are not only interesting, but they are becoming increasingly required for groups as they seek funding. If trail organizations can not show specific structures with ages, conditions, replacement timelines and costs, funding may often be denied. The Cayuga Trails Club is to be commended for creating such a great resource.

In addition to the FLT/NCT the club built and maintains the Cayuga Trail on the campus of Cornell University. They conduct hikes on trails in the Ithaca area on a regular basis.

See Cayuga Trails Club Google Map Inventory
See Cayuga Trails Club