SNP Maps Now Offered in Digital Format
By Nancy Doyle
PATC’s renowned trio of Shenandoah National Park (SNP) maps is now available for digital download through Avenza!
Avenza is a free app for your mobile device to download maps from the PATC Avenza map store. Paper maps will still be available for purchase, but the newest editions are currently available exclusively through Avenza.
Thanks to the dedicated GPS Rangers, the newest digital editions of the North, Central, and South Park districts (Maps 9, 10, and 11) offer the most accurate trail locations and information available. Changes include updated trail access points, current parking areas, side trail closures and reroutes, stream and river variations, and many others.
Each revised map features PATC’s newly designed cover by Alan Kahan with a photograph from the North, Central, and South districts of SNP. Featuring a photograph of the Old Rag rocky pinnacle on the cover, Map 10 covers the most hiked part of the park, and it shows the recently acquired cabins as well as significant GPS updates to Skyland-Big Meadows horse trails.
In addition to the superior data collected by the Rangers, the all-volunteer, map-making GIS Committee imported authoritative data from GIS software company Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) including a base map of LIDAR data sets used for measuring elevation to create contour lines.
The committee imported data from VDOT to determine boundaries, structures, and features to include on the map. Other data layers include state of Virginia administrative boundaries for counties and towns, the Virginia road centerline map data, Rapidan Wildlife Management boundaries, river and trailhead locations, mile markers, and infrastructures.
Why is a PATC map the best trail map available to hikers? The methods used to collect our data come from boots on the ground. Unlike competitors’ map makers who rely solely upon satellite and second party data, PATC itself is the primary source of trail data. The GPS Rangers walk every step of every trail using consistent collection methods and advanced equipment to make comparisons possible. Using this equipment, rangers collect point and line data by hiking each trail. Photographs and individual notes supplement the data to create a trail report This pinpoint data affords detailed accuracy that a satellite cannot provide. The collection of points is used to create the trail line. Waypoints, such as springs, shelters, benches, cabins, signage, overlooks, and walls are fully notated and photographed. Much of this precise data is included in a PATC map.
The hardest areas to survey are unmaintained trails that have reverted to overgrowth. Sometimes a trail is gone and cannot be recovered. This leads to trail closure. PATC maps are always updated with trail closures and reroutes. The SNP digital maps now offered through Avenza can be updated frequently to reflect these changes. Is it any surprise that PATC maps are the industry standard that no other maps can equal? Purchase and download PATC maps here.
