Real Time Map Data in the National Park Service

National Park Service Arrowhead

GeoNYC “When There's a Bump in the Road”: Monday, January 11, 2016

https://www.nps.gov/npmap/slides/working-with-real-time-data/

National Park Service Arrowhead

Empowering National Parks
with Open Source Mapping Tools

www.nps.gov/npmap

National Park Service Arrowhead

  • NPMap: web maps for the National Park Service
  • A team of developers, cartographers, and data engineers that build tools to enable web mapping across the NPS
  • Focus on public-facing maps
  • NPS Graphic Identity Standards
  • Open-source technologies shared with the public

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places

Screenshot of Places Editor
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places

Technologies

  • Editors: modified iD editor from OpenStreetMap
    • A modified version of the iD editor from OpenStreetMap
    • JOSM is also supported for advanced editing and imports
  • Uses the OpenStreetMap API and data schema
  • node.js
  • PostgreSQL and PostGIS
  • CartoDB

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places

Data Process

  1. User adds data through the iD editor or JOSM
  2. Changeset is written to the API database
  3. A write to the PostGIS database is triggered when a changeset is completed
  4. The points are rendered into points, lines, and polygons based on their tags with SQL in PostGIS
  5. Every 5 minutes a process runs that finds changes and uploads them to CartoDB to be used in public-facing maps

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places

  • Core data system for trails, roads, parking areas, buildings, and points of interest
  • Compatible with CLI tools for OpenStreetMap data processing
  • Built to enable all park employees to contribute to the map
  • Currently uploading GIS-based data to rapidly augment the database
  • Places Editor provides access to database in a browser

Park Tiles Icon

Park Tiles

Screenshot of Park Tiles
Park Tiles Icon

Park Tiles

Screenshot of Park Tiles
Park Tiles Icon

Park Tiles

  • Suite of basemaps designed to fit NPS identity
  • Data from OpenStreetMap, Mapbox (Terrain), and NPS Places
  • Version 3: All Places data within Park Boundaries

NPMap Builder Icon

NPMap Builder

Screenshot of NPS Builder
NPMap Builder Icon

NPMap Builder

Screenshot of NPS Builder
NPMap Builder Icon

NPMap Builder

Screenshot of NPS Builder
NPMap Builder Icon

NPMap Builder

Screenshot of NPS Builder
NPMap Builder Icon

NPMap Builder

  • A tool to build beautiful, accessible web maps that can be easily added to NPS.gov and standalone sites
  • Incorporates NPMap.js, Park Tiles, Symbol Library, and Places, among others
  • Many options for customization, including a wide variety of basemaps
  • Multiple data formats supported for custom overlays
  • Custom configuration options for popup windows and tooltips

Real Time Data

Screenshot of Places Live

Real Time Data

Sometimes you encounter “Bumps in the Road”

Bison in Road

(source Wikimedia Commons)

Real Time Data

Conditions can change rapidly

Snow Covered Road Yellowstone

(source nps.gov)

Real Time Data

Our current focus:

  • Road conditions and incidents
  • Geyser predictions and eruptions
  • Campground openings, closures, and availability

Real Time Data

Improving the visitor experience:

  • Instantaneous communication of changes
  • Trip planning
  • Improved place-finding
  • Inter-park routing

Real Time Data

Improving internal operations:

  • More efficient data entry
  • Better data management
  • Seamless dissemination of information via web site, email, social media, mobile apps, etc.
  • Shared responsibility for creating and maintaining data
  • Access to archived data to generate reports
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Live
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

  • Live road closure and campsite availability status
  • In several parks
    • Blue Ridge Parkway
    • Yellowstone
    • Grand Teton *
    • Golden Gate *
  • Update info in one place
  • Screens update on kiosks at park visitor centers
  • Custom basemap design

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Adding A feature
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Oversnow Vehicle

(source nps.gov)

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Adding a Message
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Adding Construction
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Adding an Incident
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Live JSON
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Live Styles
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Live
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Geysers

Screenshot of Places Live Geysers

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Live Geysers App
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Screenshot of Places Live Geysers App
NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Campgrounds

Screenshot of Places Live Campgrounds

NPS Places Icon

NPS Places Live

Kiosks in Yellowstone National Park

Questions?

npmap@nps.gov

Jim McAndrew@jimmyrocks

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Questions?

npmap@nps.gov

Jim McAndrew@jimmyrocks

< Return to first slide