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WVU senior shows how trail accessibility mapping can aid planning
Summary
A WVU geography student demonstrated a summer internship project that mapped trail accessibility across 18 sites in northwestern Minnesota, producing public ArcGIS maps and a data set city staff said could inform local planning and accessibility work.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Kevin Harter, a senior in WVU's Department of Geology and Geography, presented results from a summer internship mapping trail accessibility in northwestern Minnesota and explained how the approach could be applied locally.
Harter described using GPS‑enabled devices to record grade, slope direction and surface type at intersections and along trail segments. He said the project generated roughly 14,000 rows of data across about 20 parks and that the cleaned data were published to ArcGIS with a public QR link. "We had everything set up — now we're ready to execute," he said during a roughly 10‑minute lightning talk.
Harter outlined his method for naming intersections and loops to simplify navigation and analysis, and showed before‑and‑after screenshots for parks where trails were drawn into the base map because they had not been recorded previously. He noted limitations — for example, some private or tribal lands are off‑limits, and severe weather sometimes made sections inaccessible.
Council members and staff thanked the students for sharing results and for making the maps publicly available; Director Marvin Davis (WVU GIS manager) said the work showcased practical student contributions and could help local accessibility planning.
No council action was required; staff said the presentations would be shared with city planning and parks staff.
