Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can involve large databases of geographic information and turn the information into maps and decision-making tools for problem solving. The National Park Service (NPS) depends on GIS to improve the protection of and prevent the impairment to significant park natural and cultural resources, as well as support park operations, planning, and facilities management. The NPS also trusts GIS to engage and inform the public of its interpretive themes, resources, and safety concerns.  

GIS, as a modern technology, is constantly undergoing change and advancements. This is most evident with online GIS. At SERO GR, we are upgrading our technical infrastructure (servers and server software) to try and stay on top of this constant change. Because of these upgrades, how we serve out web maps and data needs to change as well. You might have heard about Park Atlas and the online web maps that effort produced. We need help not only to change the infrastructure behind our Park Atlases, but also to improve the look, feel, content, and navigation of our region’s basic web maps. Online web maps are used by park managers to make decisions about their work, and we need help to meet the need.  

The main goal of this project will be to improve our Park Atlases. Currently, most of our Park Atlases only display operational data (boundaries, trails, roads, buildings, and points of interest). We need someone to switch the data to our new server, work with the parks to add the cultural and natural resource data they need, organize the data in the map, and customize labels, pop ups, etc. The expectation is that a professional ArcGIS Online web map will be easily available for park managers to use to go about their business.