Trail Planning News

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We have been working with experts in sustainable trail planning to continue improving our trail planning support tool (TRAILS – Trail Routing Analysis and Information Linkage System) and expect to have a new release in November. With a little bit of help from our friends, we are getting closer to being able to provide routing that more closely mimics the contour-hugging trails that we all know and love.  

Keep in mind that TRAILS is meant to provide potential trail corridors based on transportation, hydrography, elevation, protected lands, and more recently---user-defined custom layers. The application is not meant to replace the expertise required to plan an exact route or truly sustainable trail. As part of your pre-planning process, TRAILS can be an effective tool that promotes collaboration and gives you an idea on where to start or what areas to avoid when planning a new trail or rerouting an older trail.  

If you haven’t checked out TRAILS yet, sign up for one of our monthly workshops. If it has been a while since you’ve used TRAILS, you may want to take a look at the newer functionality. Either way, we’d love to hear about your experiences!  

Note: Your login information may change soon as we work to improve security by implementing multifactor authentication via LOGIN.GOV. Please email us at trails@usgs.gov for questions, comments, or just to say “hello!”