Federal Trail GIS Schema - Leveraging a Unified Strategy
The Federal Trail GIS Schema Working Group is excited to announce the Federal Trail GIS Schema (FTGS) template is now publicly available for anyone to use. To learn more, see the article by Kerry Shakarjian from the National Park Service below.
The purpose of the FTGS is to provide a nationwide GIS trail data schema template, based on the Federal Trail Data Standard (FTDS, 2011), that can be utilized by all agencies and partners to establish a unifying and common trail GIS data structure. The Federal Trail GIS Schema will allow for national aggregation of publicly facing trail data from multiple agencies and partners into a common schema GIS database such as the USGS National Digital Trails Project.
As the Federal Trail Data Standard (FTDS) FTDS was intended, the Federal Trail GIS Schema is meant to be applied to trails of all kinds, including National Trails. There are multiple benefits for utilizing the FTGS template. First, it can be used as a transfer standard for getting existing data into the schema template for aggregation into a single database with other trails from differing sources. Second, it can be used locally to update existing standards if desired. Third, it can be used as a blank template to collect new trail data in the field in a pinch. Lastly, it can also be used to standardize trail data if starting a local trail data standard from scratch. We would love to hear about the different ways this schema is used in the future so we can highlight these use cases on the FTGS Working Group website.
The Federal Trail GIS Schema includes a geodatabase template containing two different line geometry feature classes as well as a point geometry feature class. The first line geometry feature class template is called Core, which includes the minimum attribute fields required for all trails. The second feature class template is called Extended Core, which includes the Core fields as well as the minimum attribute fields required for National Scenic and Historic Trails. The third feature class template is called NHT Sites and includes the minimum attribute fields required for all National Historic Trail Site locations. These templates are a starting point. The schema is flexible enough to allow for additional custom fields to be added at the trail GIS manager’s discretion, including any additional FTDS fields not included in the Federal Trail GIS Schema. Adding additional attribute fields is encouraged.
Overall, a Federal Trail GIS Schema would make it achievable to have better GIS coordination and collaboration between agencies and partners for various trail projects, efficient sharing of authoritative trail data with the public, and better GIS decision making support for trails.
Over time, as the schema is used, it is possible that scenarios may arise that were not accounted for in the development. The FTGS Working Group has made available a Change Log form that can be used to provide constructive feedback in order to improve the schema over time.
For more information and to download the current GIS geodatabase template and implementation documentation please visit https://ngda-transportation-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/pages/federal-trail-gis-schema-working-group.
