Southern Sierra Nevada Backpacking Route Planner

Abstract

The process for planning backpacking trips in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range takes into account a multitude of geographic data, which is dispersed across multiple sites. This dispersal makes the process laborious. Wilderness permits are linked to trailheads and reserved online through Recreation.Gov or Yosemite Conservancy, which lack sufficient spatial information required for planning. I developed an ArcGIS WebAppBuilder application for backpacking route planning in the Inyo National Forest, Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. The application was developed through data gathering and vetting, geoprocessing and digitizing, use of geometric networks, Arcade expressions, Python, web maps and WebAppBuilder. Data is centralized from various sources and enhanced in ways that make it easily consumable in a web application format. Widgets are utilized for simple filtering and viewing of layers such as trails and trailheads. It is a much-needed solution for planning wilderness travel in the Southern Sierra Nevada.