I really enjoyed collaborating with Sidewalk Detroit on developing trail maps and wayfinding markers for Eliza Howell Park. My early foray into mapping was when I was in high school and used by uncle’s handheld GPS to trace trails at a local park that did not have an accurate trail map. I used an early GIS program to load the GPX files and created the finished product by hand. It was exciting to apply my collected years of GIS mapping to create these updated trail maps.

The Sidewalk Detroit team had done an incredible job of tracking and planning what they wanted to see on these maps. I dove headlong into best practices for trail maps and wayfinding design. One data oddity was that we discovered the data file for the Rouge River sourced from the EPA was not accurate. Based on the Sidewalk Detroit team knowledge and some satellite imagery referencing, I updated the correct curvature of the Rouge River through the park.