Middleton Trail Map
This is my first cartography project outside of classwork and the UWCL. The Town of Middleton Parks & Rec reached out to Madison area cartographers and requested a new trail map in the summer of 2020. Several people, including myself, agreed to work on the project.
Tasks
The Park Commission of the Town of Middleton gave project workers three tasks:
1.) Create a set of trail maps for public usage2.) Create a tool or a recommendation to help the Park Commission plan trails3.) Compile coordinates of trailheads and park entrances for the Town
The Park Commission chair elaborated on these tasks, stating that the Town did not necessarily need all of the work to be completed by project workers.
As a project worker, the first task on my agenda was to create a proposal to present to the Park Commission. The Chair of the Park Commission contacted people who expressed interest in working on the project. The chair told prospective workers that the Commission's target users were people from the immediate area wishing to find trails and park entrances with ease. At the time, the Town did not have coordinates to their trailheads or park entrances, but rather located them according to adjacent land parcels. They also had a series of PDF maps on their website, which are still in use, though they find them difficult to understand. Some of these maps are displayed at major parks and greenspaces in the Town.
Six or seven people initially showed interest in the project, but most of them were preoccupied with other work. I ended up collaborating with my UWCL co-worker and classmate, Josh Riebe. We prioritized the first and third tasks after discussing our schedules and workloads.
Proposal
One of the first things we figured out while drafting the proposal was how we would divide our labor. Since the purpose of obtaining trailhead and park coordinates was to enable casual navigation, the coordinates did not have to be highly accurate. As long as the coordinates enabled successful navigation on map applications, they would fulfill their purpose. I decided to bike to the Town of Middleton, recording GPS coordinates with my phone while doing so. I verified my coordinates by plugging them into several mapping applications. This ensured that my coordinates located trailheads and park entrances correctly.
I had more web mapping experience than Josh at the time, and I also had fewer obligations than Josh. We decided that I would make an interactive map while Josh would make corresponding maps for PDFs. I consulted with Robert Roth on making an effective proposal. Josh and I then worked out details such as use case scenarios, design details, interactivity details, desired pay rates, and objectives.
On July 13, 2020, Josh and I presented our proposal in a park commission meeting. The chair gave good feedback on our presentation. Most of the Commission agreed that the maps' improved design and interactivity would make naviagtion easier.
However, I failed to make a good case for the modifiability of the interactive map. The Town wanted to create new trails and improve existing ones. This meant that the modifiability of our product was crucial. I proposed a method in which the map would display trails using appended SVGs. Styling these SVGs would be harder, but the advantage of using them would be that I could code all of the proposed trails ahead of time as inert blocks. That way, when any changes occured, someone could simply activate the code. The Commission members were hesitant despite my proposed solution. Fortunately, someone said that a GIS specialist affiliated with the Town could implement any necessary changes in the future.
Finally, the Commission decided that Josh and I could begin working if we so wished, but they were not sure if they wanted to pay us at our proposed rate. Josh and I were led to believe that the Commission would eventually agree to pay us, and we both had difficult Fall semesters approaching. Based on these two circumstances, I decided to follow through with the work.
Map
The Town of Middleton provided Josh and I with shapefiles of trails, parks, and public land parcels. We found some of the attribute field names confusing, and we were not provided with comprehensive metadata. We asked the chair for some correspondence or documentation to resolve our confusion, but we still have not heard from anyone. Josh and I agreed on how we would stylize the map features, including the different trail types (paved, gravel, grass, etc.), but Josh could only make a basemap with the information we had. He didn't want to proceed until we knew which field specified the trail types and what the attribute abbreviations stood for.
I likewise do not have the different trail surfaces represented in my interactive map. However, I was still able to make a functioning map with responsive design and naviagtion capabilities.
Our basemap design is supposed to make parks and greenspaces rise to figure. Most of the other features have neutral or unsaturated colors. We defined most features without outlines, relying on contrasting fills to define form instead. We saved the darkest colors for the trails so that they would stand out.
The code for the map is largely based off of tutorials from Mapbox and Leaflet. To facilitate the styling process, I created a Mapbox style based on Clare Trainor's Frank style. Users can toggle trails, parks, parcels, and trailheads. The trailheads layer has popups that can connect users to Google Maps for directions. The popups can also connect users to park websites when applicable. Each trailhead with parking has a "P" symbol in its corresponding popup.
In its current state, the map's modifiability is poor because I've only coded existing trails. Also, the layers are not designed to match with the basemap due to coding constraints. Since this map has commonly used interactive operators, it has a high level of usability. Unfortunately, the most ineffective aspect of the map's usability is in fulfilling a navigation task. If a user wants to get the directions to a park on their phone through this map, they have to toggle on the trailheads layer, click on the correct popup, click "Directions". That is a minimum of four clicks. If the user's device does not automatically assume that the starting point is its current location, then the minimum number of clicks increases to six.
I gained a lot of experience from this project. I learned how to collaborate completely online on a mapping job. I familiarized myself with a basic proposal process. I practiced my interactive mapping skills. Importantly, I made a functioning site that could technically be used right now. The map would undergo much improvement with extensive feedback, of course, but this map is technically ready to fulfill its purpose. Therefore, I decided to exhibit it here on my website.