Rutland planners unveil Real Rutland interactive map and community calendar pilot

At a recent meeting of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, staff introduced the Real Rutland Interactive Map, a web-based map and community-calendar tool designed to catalog cultural, recreational and historic assets across Rutland County.

The tool, described by staff as a relaunch of an earlier asset-mapping effort, combines mapped points of interest (parks, trails, monuments, museums and other low-turnover assets) with a pilot community calendar. RRPC workforce development planner Kareema Edwards said the project entered “phase 3,” funded by the Brandon Municipal Planning Grant, and builds on prior municipal planning and health-equity grants.

GIS planner Nick Stark told commissioners the map began in February 2021 with a municipal planning grant and was later refined using health-equity research and community interviews. “Everyone was just telling us, like, yes. We really want this. Like, when when can we get to have it? And it took a year, but we’re we’re here now,” Stark said. He described the site as a resource both for residents planning outings and for promoting regional tourism.

Staff said the map emphasizes assets that do not frequently change — monuments, historic markers, district boundaries and trailheads — to reduce maintenance. Stark said there are “over 450 items on the map already.” Caryema Edwards said the map includes accessibility information such as wheelchair access, pet-friendliness and indicators for transit and lighting.

The project includes a community-calendar pilot in the town of Brandon. Stark said the team is testing Timely, a calendar-aggregation platform, so organizations can maintain their own event calendars while feeding into a regionwide calendar. “A big part of the pilot is determining the feasibility of this software that we identified called Timely, which basically acts as an aggregator,” Stark said. He added the approach can lower ongoing maintenance overhead if the pilot scales.

Demonstrations shown at the meeting highlighted map features and filters: clicking a site opens details including cost, transit options, pet policies and links to Google Maps directions. Staff said trails and trailheads are already on the map — “You can see Pine Hill Park. All the red is trails, and we also have trail heads, designated as triangles,” Stark said in response to a question.

The presentation outlined outreach and promotion planned for the rollout: a marketing plan with stakeholder meetings, email outreach to businesses, a newsletter, bus-panel advertising and other community engagement. Staff said the site will include a submission button and a request-edit feature so towns, businesses and residents can suggest additions or updates; those submissions will be reviewed by project staff.

RRPC staff said they will continue developing the map and monitoring the Brandon calendar pilot to assess whether the approach can scale regionwide. No formal votes or policy actions were taken on the project during the meeting.

For now, staff asked users for feedback through the map interface as they refine functionality and content.