Using GIS to organize and distribute Parks and Recreation information to residents.

The Parks and Recreation Department for the City of Novi want to provide an interactive information kiosk that citizens can use to find information about recreation facilities available in the city. The information management techniques used in this study are common to projects on many different topics.

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Design decisions for a Parks and Recreation Information System

In designing a parks information system, one of the first decisions to be made concerns what types of information will be included and for what purposes. Parks and recreation areas of a city or county serve many social and environmental functions. They not only provide recreation facilities and amenities for use by individuals and groups, but also they can be used to conserve or restore valuable assets such as historic buildings, wetlands or forests; provide habitat for wildlife; preserve viewsheds; moderate water runoff in rainstorms; and provide other ecological benefits.

Once a government has decided to create an information system, they need to identify which parks and recreationfacilities will be included. Will they include national, state or regional parks in the surrounding area, city-owned parks, school recreation facilities, and private facilities? Since each type of park or recreation area provides different types of facilities and amenities, which types of facilities will be included in the overall information system?

This case study requires a basic understanding of geographic information systems and ArcView 3.x.If you are unfamiliar with either of these,we recommend you read our Training Manual and complete the accompanying exercises before proceeding with this case study.

• Document (Parks.PDF - 2.57Mb) of this case study in Adobe Acrobat Reader format.

• Data used in  this case study( Parks.zip - 11.6 Mb)

• HotPotato, XTools (xtools.zip - 39 Kb), ArcView Projection Utility,  an extension for ArcView that contains useful spatial operation tools. It is developed, collected, or modified by Mike DeLaune, Oregon Department of Forestry.

Please read the Frequently Asked Questions for the Case Studies.

This case study developed by W/SA with contributions by the following;

• Dr.Yichun Xie, Director, IGRE at Eastern Michigan University.
• Beverly Hunter, Consultant to W/SA
• Robert Saxton, Envirnomental Science Teacher, Novi High School
• David Maurice, Novi City Parks and Recreation Department.
• Students at Novi High School.
• IGRE Staff.