VERS Modernization Planning

1. VERS Modernization Planning Recreation Area Mapping Exercise Quick Reference Eleven slides presenting the bare essentials for preparing recreation area maps. 25Sep09

2. Each Map Must Show: Your goal is to produce an annotated map of each designated recreation area that clearly and unambiguously shows the recreation area layout and traffic monitoring set up. • Recreation area boundary. • “Recreation sites” comprising the recreation area, where they occur. • Roads leading into or out of the recreation area. • Location of gatehouse. • Locations and names of all traffic meters. • Locations of administrative facilities, visitor center, marinas, resorts, and other types of facilities influencing types of visitors and traffic through the area. • Notes describing situations or conditions that may affect visitation monitoring (i.e., sources of non-visitor traffic regularly passing over traffic meter, etc). • Title box containing: • Name of Project • Name of Recreation Area • Recreation Area ANRMS No. (from WebVERS) • Access configuration of recreation area Exactly like this (example): Project Name: Table Rock Lake Area Name: Eagle Rock ANRMS Code No: 006 Access Configuration: D

3. Project Name: Table Rock Lake Area Name: Eagle Rock ANRMS Code No: 006 Access Configuration: D Street Map View Eagle Rock Marina Satellite Photo View • Example Of A Finished Map • Standard Parts: • Annotated street map of recreation area (Required) • Supplemental aerial or satellite photo of recreation area showing features not visible on street map, such as marinas (As needed). • Title box with four standard pieces of information (Required).

4. Use Provided Symbols and Suggested Colors to Show Recreation Area Features PowerPoint Lines and text notes: • Recreation area boundary:freeform bright green line or shape () • One-way road: Note direction of one-way travel with green arrow green arrow ( ) • Noteworthy features:add text boxes, as needed, to identify: • Subdivisions and other sources of non-recreation traffic that regularly goes over traffic counter. • Marinas, resorts, or other non-Corps recreation providers operating within a Corps-managed recreation area. • Occurrence of tour bus traffic • Anything else potentially relevant to traffic monitoring or load-factors. PowerPoint Copy and Paste Icons:click on icon, copy to clipboard, then paste onto your map where desired. Resize as needed. Vehicle Traffic Counter Visitor Center or Office Facility Gatehouse No Traffic Counter No Traffic Counter Installed At This Area

5. Traffic meter name Sizing Base Maps: Show some of the area surrounding the recreation area. This Way: Not This Way: Access patterns and traffic meter setup can only be evaluated if the entire recreation area and some of the surrounding area is shown on the base map. A much larger surrounding area may need to be shown if the traffic meter is located on a public roadway well outside the recreation area.

6. JPEG Your Base Maps Either Before or After Copying Them onto a PowerPoint Slide ! • Why • Imported and screen-captured base maps can be 2-5 MB each. Too many maps of this size make the overall PowerPoint file unmanageably large. • Compressing base maps to JPEG or similar format can reduce overall size of PowerPoint file by 90%. • How (after a screen capture has been pasted to PowerPoint) • Replace screen copied base map with JPEG picture of base map. Then complete “Save As Picture” screen. Right click on base map image. Be sure to select “JPEG file interchange format” picture type. Select “Save as picture” from menu that appears on screen.

7. Show the Recreation Area Boundary! This Way: Not This Way: At some lakes, Google maps and Bing maps show the larger Corps property boundary, but not the actual recreation area boundary. Always show the approximate boundary line of the recreation area, drawn manually, if necessary. The recreation area layout and traffic monitoring setup usually cannot be evaluated if the recreation area boundary is not explicitly shown on the map.

8. Use boundary lines to identify separate “recreation sites” in the recreation area In some recreation areas, the park layout or park road system is configured in such a way that different parts of the recreation area are isolated from each other, preventing a visitor in one part of the recreation area from driving directly to another part of the same area without first leaving, and then re-entering the recreation area at another access point. An objective of the mapping exercise is to identify portions of a recreation area that are isolated from each other in the way described above. We refer to these different places in the recreation area as separate “recreation sites”. Every recreation area can be organized into one (most common) or more recreation sites. How to Recognize a Recreation Site: Different places inside a recreation area are part of a different “recreation site” when: • There are no roads inside the recreation area that connect the two places. • Driving from one place to the other within the same recreation area requires that you exit the recreation area at one access point, then re-enter it at a different access point. Examples: • See next three slides

9. Draw recreation area boundaries to show separate recreation sites- Example 1 of 3 Show This Way: Not This Way: This recreation area consists of two separate recreation sites located on opposite sides of a state highway, each with its own access points from the highway. To travel from one site to the other, you must exit the recreation area to the highway then reenter the recreation area at an access point to the other site. In the recreation area classification system introduced on a later slide, this recreation area has Access Configuration D.

10. Draw recreation area boundaries to show separate recreation sites- Example 2 of 3 Show This Way: Not This Way: This edited base map, obtained from Google Maps, accurately shows the recreation area boundary, but an internal boundary line is needed to show the separate marina and campground recreation sites that comprise this area. The marina and campground are separate recreation sites because there are no roads inside the recreation area connecting one to the other. To drive from the campground to the marina, you must exit the recreation area at the campground access point to a public road, then re-enter the recreation area at the marina access point. In the recreation area classification system introduced on a later slide, this recreation area has Access Configuration C.

11. Does this recreation area consist of one recreation site or two? Example 3 of 3 Correct: Incorrect: A recreation area that separates day-use and camping visitors may or may not consist of separate recreation sites. This map, taken from a project brochure, shows a single access point to a recreation area that is internally divided into day-use and camping sections. Because vehicle travel between the day-use and camping sections can be accomplished on park roads without leaving the recreation area, the recreation area boundary should show the recreation area as a single recreation site. In the recreation area classification system introduced on the next slide, this recreation area has Access Configuration A.

12. Provide an overview map of complicated recreation areas that have more than one recreation site. Show this way: Instead of or in addition to this way: Slide 2 Slide 1 All on one slide Slide 3 Most recreation areas are easily shown on a single map that will fit on a single PowerPoint slide. However, a recreation area comprised of several different recreation sites may require that different sites be shown on different maps or slides so road and metering detail is shown clearly. In these cases, there should always an additional map of the entire recreation area so the spatial relationships among the separate sites are readily apparent to someone who is unfamiliar with the recreation area. In the recreation area classification system introduced on the previous slide, this recreation area has Access Configuration D.

13. Need Help? Contact: Richard L. Kasul Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Vicksburg, MS E-mail: Richard.L.Kasul@erdc.usace.army.mil