In 2003 state volunteers, employees, and non-profits began hiking and biking New Jersey’s State Park trails. They collected data by using recreational global positioning systems (GPS) and professional GPS devices. A consistent attribute table and data dictionary developed overtime to best present the collected data. The raw data is then transferred from the GPS device to a shapefile to be georeferenced using 2002/07/12 Imagery (Natural and/or Infrared) and the Statewide_Hillshade layers. As park by park is completed a large aerial image with all data on top is brought to Park employees to verify the accuracy and check for any missing data. In coordination with this feedback changes are made to the shapefile and additional GPSing is done if needed. Once all is finalized the park’s shapefile can be copied to the final trails dataset and the topology tool is conducted to check for overlaps, spurs/overshoots, and intersections.
All newly collected data was gathered with a Trimble Geo7x and georeferenced to 2012 or 2015 orthoimagery. Any preexisting line changes that occurred were referenced from 2015 orthoimagery. The topology tool was conducted to check for overlaps, spurs/overshoots, and intersections.
Added the new RGNL_TRL (Regional Trail) field to state if a trail goes through multiple regions. Also added new data collected with a Trimble Geo7X. This trails layer did not always include regional trails in their entirety. It will be beneficial for users to see this regional trail field to know if a trail continues outside of state lands.
Updated attributes, edited trail features, and added a few trails per superintendent requests. Changes occurred in Allaire, Appalachian Trail, Cape May Point, Double Trouble, Island Beach, Long Pond, Monmouth Battlefield, Norvin Green, Ramapo Mountain, Round Valley, Stokes, Wawayanda, and Worthington. Any trail adjustments were based on 2015 orthoimagery.