Mapping Hobbs State Park
Spring 2015
Luke Dye
Daryk Blackford
Introduction to Geographic Information Science
Northwest Arkansas Community College
Instructor Paul Lowrey
Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area
Arkansas's largest state park in land area,
Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area
covers a 12,056-acre tract of diverse
Ozark landscape along the southern
shore of Beaver Lake, stretching from
Beaver Lake to the north, to the War Eagle
Creek to the south. State Highway 12
bisects the property.
Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area
As students of the Introduction to
Geographic Information Science
and East/Empact Projects. We were
tasked with editing existing
mapping data and collecting,
plotting, and digitizing points of
interest.
Our Efforts
In an effort to enhance the communities
connections to this valuable resource we have:
❖Digitally recorded points of interest and
unique geological features on the various
trails; such as scenic views, natural water
sources, camping areas, and hitching
posts for equestrians using a camera and
handheld GPS.
❖Added those data points to existing maps
developing a more detailed, multi-level
map that anyone wanting more
information about Hobbs State Park can
access
Which communities benefit?
Equestrians
Hikers
Campers
Trail bikers
Conservancy Groups
Biologists
Students of the GIS
and EAST/Impacts
programs
Which unique communities benefit?
Anyone interested in
studying ‘Indian Marker
Trees’ or ‘Thong Trees’
in Arkansas
The Ozark Chinquapin
Foundation, as there
are a number of
chinquapin trees on the
Hobbs property
Special Thanks To:
Hobbs State Park Staff
Roland Goacachea
Hobbs State Park Superintendent
Al Knox
Hobbs State Park Trail Maintenance Supervisor
Jay Schnieder
Hobbs State Park Assistant Supervisor
Rebekah Penny
Hobbs State Park Interpreter
Special Thanks To:
NWACC Staff
Paul Lowrey
NWACC Arc GIS Instructor
Dianne Phillips
NWACC EAST/Empacts Lab Director
Students who Contributed To Empacts Project:
Karis Ragland
Javier Gamboa
David Mortensen
Andy Schroeder
Michael Wallen
Jennifer Watkins
Larry Winslow
Curriculum Objectives
By completing this project we have met the learning objectives
required of GEOS 2943 GIS students.
Import, store, and manage geographical data from a variety of
sources.
Organize layers, including such tasks as layer activation,
hierarchy, and manipulation of layer display properties to optimize
visual effect.
Create and analyze new data by creating spatial relationships
between multiple datasets.
Utilize skills to create a GIS product for analysis of local
problems, as a final group project (EMPACTS component).
Communication with the
Hobbs Employees, Al Knox
Develop Criteria for GPS
points of interest to be
gathered
Divided responsibilities and
labor and developed a rough
time line
How we did it (cont’)
Gathered data using hand-held GPS
and camera phone, by physical
collection and observation, and from
internet sources
Long hours in front of the computer
converting gathered data, pictures, and
gps data, into a digitized ARCGIS map
Recommended Future Mapping Ideas
There are several categories of Interest Points that
remain to be mapped:
Plants: Wildflowers*, rare or endangered plants,
and any additional Ozark chinquapins and Indian
marker trees
Public Attractions: Geocache locations, any
additional benches, restrooms, picnic tables, and
campsites, water sources, horse hitching areas, trail
head locations, and scenic views that haven’t been
already recorded on map.
*Future students should speak with park Interpreter Rebekah Penny
Division of Labor
Luke Dye
Facilitated meetings with contacts
Helped develop criteria for Points of Interest
Met with Mrs. Phillips, the EAST/Empacts Coordinator
Collected data points and pictures along the Sinking
Stream Trail and the Van Winkle Mill Trail
Edited and corrected trails recorded by previous students
Assisted with PowerPoint development
Developed the ARCGIS story map
Division of Labor
Daryk Blackford
Met with Hobbs State Park Staff
Developed criteria for points of interest
Physically collected data points and pictures from Little Clifty,
Pigeon Roost and Bashore Loop trails
Manage symbology and description for points of interest in the
ARCMAP
Developed power point presentation
Helped develop the ARCGIS story map
Timeline
April 1, 2015
Luke Dye: Made contact via email with Hobbs State Park
April 6, 2015
Luke Dye: Phone contact made: Al Knox (Trail Supervisor)
April 8, 2015 (4 hrs.)
Daryk Blackford: Meeting with Al Knox
April 11-12, 2015 (4.5 hrs.)
Daryk Blackford: Collected GPS coordinates and captured photos of Little Cliffy and Bashore Loop Trails
April 15, 2015 (1 hr.)
Luke Dye/Daryk Blackford: Project meeting. Purpose and best course of action established
April 17, 2015 (5 hrs.)
Luke Dye: Meeting with Dianne Phillips
Digitized hiking trails into GIS software
Daryk Blackford downloaded and digitized waypoints to GIS software
April 18-19, 2015 (5 hrs.)
Daryk Blackford: Collected GPS coordinates and captured photos of Pigeon Roast
April 20, 2015 (3 hrs.)
Luke Dye: Meeting with Dianne Phillips
Worked on presentation
Edit and correct GIS data
Dayrk Blackford: Worked on presentation
Edit and correct GIS data.
Timeline (cont.)
April 24, 2015 (4 hrs.)
Luke Dye: Edit and correct data
Daryk Blackford: Edit and correct data
April 30, 2015 (9 hrs.)
Luke Dye: Completed power point presentation.
Daryk Blackford: Inserted Hyperlinks into Final Project map.
The first step was to convert
GPS mapping data and
waypoints into a digital map.
The second step was to
manually correct any trail
mapping errors and assign
symbols to GPS waypoints and
create a legend.
Step three;
Finally, with the
addition of a base
map data layer a
useful map begins
to emerge. Then we
begin to create a
hyperlink within the
map that has a
picture of almost
every point of
interest.
Sources: Esri, HERE, DeLorme, TomTom, Intermap, increment P Corp., GEBCO, USGS, FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase, IGN, Kadaster
NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), swisstopo, MapmyIndia, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS
User Community
World Wide Web
Our sources of information from the internet
http://alltrails.com/parks/us/arkansas/hobbs-state-parkconservation-area
http://friendsofhobbs.busterneece.com/content/trail-guidedescriptions
http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/hobbsstateparkconservatio
narea/
http://www.arkansas.com/outdoors/camping/stateparks/detail.aspx?park=38
http://nwacceastlab.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.ht
ml?webmap=b298542390e8480db9ac2f721f743c90
http://www.esri.com/
Data Collection Tools
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Arc Maps 10.1 Software
ESRI Story Maps Web Serves
Etrex Venture HC handheld GPS unit
Google Drive Cloud Server
Samsung Galaxy S5 Android Operating System
Motorola Droid Maxx Android Operating System
Microsoft Suite Programs
World Wide Web
Results
Our ArcMap available online:
http://arcg.is/1DPLsTV
Our publicly available ARC story map:
http://arcg.is/1GD8YW5