PRORAGIS: GIS

The GIS in PRORAGIS

Why is GIS important? How will GIS data benefit our agency?

Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is used increasingly by local governments across the United States, but every community captures different information and at different scales. NRPA has developed a GIS data model for parks, trails, and recreation facilities in an effort to standardize these types of GIS data. The model allows you to make a list (inventory) of all the lands and facilities (assets) that you own, plan, manage, operate, and/or maintain.

This standardization of attributes and values related to parks and recreation is the core component of the GIS portion of PRORAGIS. Having local governments collect consistent information in their GIS systems will allow for better local, regional and statewide management and planning of park and recreation resources.

What do I need to get started?

PRORAGIS participants are encouraged to use the custom GIS application to manage your parks, facilities, and trails on a map. This can be accomplished by (a) manually drawing points, lines, and polygons directly on the map, (b) uploading an Excel spreadsheet, or (c) uploading an existing ESRI File Geodatabase.

Every parks department is different, as may be their familiarity with GIS.

• ESRI File Geodatabase - This is the recommended data type for GIS users.
• Microsoft Excel - This should be used by departments that do not have GIS, but do have an existing inventory, or those that wish to create an inventory to prepare for future GIS use.
• Manual – Users with no GIS may elect to manually draw points, lines, and polygons in the GIS program.

More detailed instructions are available on the GIS 101 page and GIS video tutorial.

How does the Full GIS profile differ from GIS Lite?

The newly introduced GIS Lite is a data model that has been stripped down to its core elements, leaving only basic fields of information required for upload. While the standard model is preferred, this Lite version can be helpful for departments that do not have extremely detailed records of their parks, trails, and facilities.

Note: If you are going to load your data in a File Geodatabase, use the full template and populate only the GIS Lite attribute fields, leaving the rest blank.