Organised Editing/Activities/Trails Stewardship Initiative

About the Trails Stewardship Initiative

The Trails Stewardship Initiative is a program led by OpenStreetMap US. Launched in 2021, the Trails Stewardship Initiative is a collaboration of government, volunteer, and private sector stakeholders working to address issues in trail mapping, outdoor recreation, and public land management. As hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts in the United States have come to rely on mobile applications to navigate our public lands, visitors can be led to dangerous or environmentally sensitive areas when these apps include unofficial and unmaintained trails. Many navigation applications amalgamate this trail data from multiple sources and rely heavily on OpenStreetMap data.

To address how applications use and visualize OpenStreetMap trail data, the Trails Stewardship Initiative brings together volunteer mappers, land managers and app developers to improve trail data in OpenStreetMap. Through these efforts, navigation apps will be able to better display OpenStreetMap trail data, improving equitable access to the outdoors and the public's ability to understand and plan for the true nature of a trail system, while protecting our sensitive ecosystems.

The primary goals of the Trails Stewardship Initiative are to:

1. Increase SAFETY for outdoor enthusiasts on public lands
2. Improve EQUITABLE ACCESS to trails for all citizens
3. Promote RESPONSIBLE RECREATION out of respect for tribal and private lands and for the protection of our natural environment.

OpenStreetMap US and the Trails Working Group work closely with land managers, the OpenStreetMap community, commercial users of OpenStreetMap data for recreation, and other stakeholders in order to bridge needs, develop solutions, and advocate for responsible use of OpenStreetMap for recreation. Updates, efforts, and campaigns are announced on the talk-us mailing list, OpenStreetMap US newsletter, the OpenStreetMap US blog, the OSM US Slack, and social media channels. Regular updates are provided through all channels.

More information can be found on the program page of the OpenStreetMap US website. Further background and documentation of initial efforts can be found on the United States/Trail Access Project page.

Contact

The Trails Stewardship Initiative is led by OpenStreetMap US and the Trails Working Group. For information, please visit https://openstreetmap.us/our-work/trails/.

For any additional information or questions, please contact trails@openstreetmap.us

Projects

This table provides an overview of all projects under the Trails Stewardship Initiative. Each project has its own wiki page to provide further detail and mapping guidance.

Focus Area	Project	Dates	Status	Description	Hashtag(s)	Communication	Contact
Utah	Bryce Canyon National Park - Official Trail Attributes Tasking Manager Projects: #447, #451, #452	October 2023 - Ongoing	In Progress	Support responsible recreation by improving trail attributes using official resources. Our target is for each trail to be updated with the following attributes (as applicable) based on official sources: Name Operator (i.e. National Park Service) Access (i.e. no, private) Allowed Use (i.e. hiking, snowmobile, dogs) Informal (i.e. yes, no) Each trail may have a different situation influencing which tags to use. Please see the mapping instructions provided to determine the correct situation for each trail.	Updated trail information #TrailsStewardshipInitiative-Utah #OSMUS #TrailsStewardshipInitiative Plus individual task hashtags: #osmus-tasks-447 or #osmus-tasks-451 or #osmus-tasks-452||#trails on the OSM US Slack or trails@openstreetmap.us	Trails Working Group

Data Model

Using references identified by land managers, mappers will update the following minimum attributes as appropriate. This data model was developed by the Trails Working Group, as documented on the United States/Trail Access Project page.

Attribute Data Needed for Pools

Priority	Attribute	OSM Tag(s)	Additional info
Primary	Name	name=*	Trail Name
	Operator	operator=*	Name of land management (i.e. National Park Service)
	Informal	informal=yes	Social trails, decommissioned trails, and other trails not designated by the land manager; regardless of access designation
		informal=no	Official trail, regardless of access
	Access	access=yes	Open to the public
		access=no	Closed trail. No one is allowed
		access=private	Private trail. No trespassing; general public not allowed.
		access=permissive	Private trail. General public allowed.
		access=unknown	Trail access is unclear or unknown
	Allowed use*	foot=designated;yes;no	Access restriction/designation for use by foot (hikers)
		bicycle=designated;yes;no	Access restriction/designation for use by bicycle
		horse=designated;yes;no	Access restriction/designation for use with horses
		dog=yes;no;leashed	Access restriction/designation for use with dogs
Secondary	Reference Number	ref=*	Official trail reference number
	Width	width=*	Trail width (m)
	Official Website	website=*	Website with information about the trail, example Bristlecone Loop Trail, managed by the operator.
	Wiki data	operator:wikidata=*	Wikidata value for operator. Ex, NPS: Q308439. USFS: Q1891156, BLM: Q1010556
	Trail Visibility	trail_visibility=*	Classification indicating level of orienteering skills needed to follow the trail
	Trail Difficulty	sac_scale=*	Classification indicating level of difficulty for maneuvering the trail

* Other transportation modes such as ski, snowmobile, ATV are also encouraged if known.

Hashtag

All projects will use the #TrailsStewardshipInitiative hashtag as well as project specific hashtags listed under each project above.

Timeframe

Each project will have its own unique timeframe based on project needs and scope. Large scale projects will be broken down into smaller components to encourage mapper engagement and for timely validation/data quality.

Tools and data sources

Each project will use specific tools and data sources, described on individual project pages.

Participants

This is a community project organized by OpenStreetMap US. As a result, there is not an exhaustive list of mappers.

Measuring our success

More details to be provided soon.

Training/instructions

Detailed instructions and guidance, including links to official trail sources are included in each Tasking Manager project.

Data Quality

Each project is closely monitored for data quality by OpenStreetMap US. The OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager is the primary tool used for activities to allow for organized community validation. In cases where other mapping tools are required, secondary review or validation methods will be described in the project page. At the completion of each project, the OpenStreetMap US project lead conducts a third-pass validation over all project data.

Data quality is critical to both OpenStreetMap and the stakeholders relying on the data. Where feasible, OpenStreetMap US will also work with relevant land managers for additional quality checks to ensure accuracy.