Chautauqua County Plans Big Boost In Outdoor Fun With New Trail Map App

Chautauqua county plans big boost in outdoor fun with new trail map app

The Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth (CCPEG), along with the Friends of Chautauqua County Greenways (FCCG), Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Development (CCDPD), and Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau (CCVB), are currently in the process of working with Barton and Loguidice to build an interactive countywide outdoor recreation map and mobile application (app). This partnership will result in increased tourism, use of trail systems, and will spur economic development.

Currently, each trail user group maintains their own trail maps in a variety of formats, ranging from posted maps at trailhead kiosks to online maps. These various formats create inconsistency, confusion, and underutilized trails. Some trail user groups struggle to collect GIS trail data and format the GIS data in a user-friendly format. These gaps in data make it difficult for trail users, residents, and visitors to explore and use the trail systems.

The Chautauqua County mapping project will address these inconsistencies and will remedy the confusion among user groups and trail users in the county. This project will develop a single user-friendly map and a mobile app to have all trail data (greenways and waterways) compiled and housed in an easy to locate and easy to edit online location across multiple webpages. This project will consist of a review and evaluation of existing mapped trails in the County, collect inventory/GIS data of mapped and unmapped trail systems, develop an interactive user-friendly online map, and develop a streamlined process for submitting future data for uploading to the map. As an added bonus, Barton and Loguidice will update many existing third-party trail map applications, such as AllTrails, Trail Forks, and MTB Project, with new data from the mapping project. This will benefit trail users who already have these third-party applications downloaded to their mobile devices.

The mapping project represents a key piece to the puzzle in not only jumpstarting our countywide recreation projects and greenway/waterway initiatives but also in putting Chautauqua, County on the map for more comprehensive funding for trail improvements and for outdoor promotion. We expect this project to be completed in the spring of 2024.