Lifetime Service | Hulet Hornbeck Award | Trails for Health | Partnership | Trails Public Service | Outstanding Media | Trails and the Arts | Planning/Design | Corporate | State-of-the-Art Technology | Trail Sharing | Trail Advocate Awards | Trail Worker Awards | Awards Index

2006 STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY AWARD WINNER

The award recognizes a trails-related product, process, or service that has significantly met a need, addressed an issue, or increased efficiency in trail design, development, or maintenance:

Cedar Valley Trails 911 Signs Project, Iowa

	Benches are GPS location markers on the Cedar Valley Trail System

Download an 11-page paper, Improving Multi-Use Recreational Trail Safety through a Coordinated 911 Sign Project, which details this project with graphics and technical data (pdf 288kb)

The objective of the signing project was to design a comprehensive method to georeference trail locations for emergency response and asset management purposes. There are over 1700 trailside features, including signs, benches, and shelters.

The Cedar Valley Trail System and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail encompass 95 miles of paved trail within Black Hawk County, Iowa. As trail use and the trail system expanded, coupled with the secluded nature of the trails, an improved means of communicating trail location was needed for emergency response situations.

The Trail crosses through many jurisdictions (Cedar Falls, Evansdale, Hudson, Waterloo, BHC, and the State of Iowa). The Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments (INRCOG) coordinates transportation planning, grant writing, and Trail mapping. Thus, rather than each jurisdiction devising an approach to Trail asset data collection, a common method useful to all the jurisdictions to provide uniformity was needed.

The Cedar Valley Trails 911 Signs Project represents the culmination of a county-wide effort to address this need.

The 911 location code accurately identifies positions on the trail

The project utilizes state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning system (GPS), and computer-aided emergency dispatch (CAD). When a 911 sign ID code is entered by a dispatcher into the CAD system, the corresponding trails segment is automatically centered in the CAD map view.

This visualization helps dispatchers guide the appropriate responders to the emergency site and displays a written description that details the incident location, including which streets and from what direction an emergency vehicle can gain access to the trail, along with any travel restrictions such as narrow footbridges impassable by ambulance.

It is a practical solution to location communication in emergency situations and serves as an asset inventory of all features along this the system.

Download an 11-page paper, Improving Multi-Use Recreational Trail Safety through a Coordinated 911 Sign Project, which details the project with graphics and technical data (pdf 288kb)

Lifetime Service | Hulet Hornbeck Award | Trails for Health | Partnership | Trails Public Service | Outstanding Media | Trails and the Arts | Planning/Design | Corporate | State-of-the-Art Technology | Trail Sharing | Trail Advocate Awards | Trail Worker Awards | Awards Index

See previous National Trails Award Winners from 2004, 2002, and 2000.

AWARDS and recognition programs:

Awards index
National Trails Awards
CRT-RTP Awards
Website Contest
National Recreation Trails
NRT Photo Contest
Our Awards
Opportunities

Related topics:

Arts and trails
Benefits
Health & trails
Trail building
Volunteers

More resources:

Bibliography
Quotations
Glossary
Acronyms
Tools
Products & services

For more opportunities for training on trail design, construction, and management see the National Trails Training Partnership area.