State of the Art Technology Award / 2
2015 American Trails National & International Trail Awards
Category: State-of-the-Art Technology Award
Entry Title: Trail Help Locators
1) Description
With more than a hundred miles of trails winding through 8,300 acres in 46 parks, Gwinnett County (GA) needed a way to pinpoint specific locations for emergency response and maintenance personnel. The result is the Gwinnett County E-911 Help Locator System developed and implemented in 2013. Gwinnett County is a thriving suburban community of 859,000 residents on the northeast corner of metro Atlanta. Its national award-winning parks system features 127 miles of paved and natural trails designed for hikers, horses, and mountain bikers. Gwinnett’s 46 parks preserve more than 8,000 acres of greenspace. To provide safer trails for all users, the Parks and Recreation division set up a team to develop a quick-response plan to help locate people in remote areas of the parks.
In reviewing past incidents, it became apparent that most victims don’t know which trail they are on and many callers speak limited English. In some remote areas, cell phone location data may be inaccurate. We needed a system universally employed throughout all county facilities that would be expandable to future trails as well. The team established these goals for the project: Create accurate trail maps with advanced GPS mapping to acquire the most accurate positioning of park assets; develop a signage system with unique identification numbering that would cross over the multicultural language barriers found in the county’s diverse population; share the data with emergency personnel in formats that fit their needs and provide a comprehensive database map showing fastest routes to any given point within the parks system.
The team developed a four-digit numbering system to be affixed to trail markers at every intersection and at quarter-mile intervals. For each marker, the system uses a specific GPS location for accurate latitude and longitude and no two numbers are re-used, making the system universal in its application with a never-ending resource of numbers for future use. Using only numbers also helps non-English speakers who may not know enough vocabulary to communicate effectively. The markers use either a vinyl tamper-resistant label or a hard poly-structured dimensional plaque. Information was posted about the Help Locators on all trail kiosks – a critical step for getting the message out about how the system works. Public meetings, website portals, and print media was used to present the system to the public.
Using the latest GPS collection equipment available allowed us to describe each locator position within inches. Then the information had to be transfered into the data sets that emergency services and 911 system operators use. The Help Locators system depends heavily on modern technology. First, it assumes that trail users have a cell phone and can place an emergency call for help. We used the latest handheld GPS technology to determine the exact geographic location of each Locator post. Then we depended on the County’s Information Technology staff to merge those locator positions into the mapping databases that our 911 operators, police, fire and emergency medical staff use every day. The entire Help Locator system was designed, developed and implemented by County staff as a normal part of their jobs, so there was no outside expense involved.
2) Results/Success –
The Help Locators were used almost immediately after installation. Response times to serious injuries have been dramatically reduced and our ability to find lost persons on our trails has been shortened to mere minutes. In situations where every minute counts, we are now able to get medical personnel onsite within the critical timeframe of less than 20 minutes. We learned several valuable lessons in developing this system that can benefit others. First – it’s critical to coordinate with emergency response agencies to learn their rescue process. Second – collect accurate trail data in the field, not from maps or educated guesses. Finally, the system must provide trail information in formats that are useable by all first responders.
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