The first step in creating these google maps is data collection and processing. Data for the rails to trails, and paved / urban trails was digitized in Google Earth, saved as a .kml file then converted to an encoded polyline using this converter.

Data collection for the mountain bike trail maps was a more difficult process. Three gps units were used to collect data, a Garmin Etrex, Garmin GPS 2, and a Blackberry 8330 phone with gps capability.The Tranquility Park mountain bike trail was the initial mapping subject. Both Garmin units were ineffective due to their inability to maintain a signal in the forested sections of the trail. Suprisingly, the Blackberry was very accurate and reliable. Due to its cell signal, it performed well in the forested sections of the trail. The gps program used on the BlackBerry is Trimble's All Sports GPS. The processing of the GPS data involved uploading the data from the Blackberry to the All Sports GPS website, downloading it into Google Earth, saving it as a .kml file and finaly encoding it as a polyline.

Here are the trial maps.

Tranquility - Garmin ETREX

Tranquility - Garmin GPS 3

Tranquilty - Blackberry 8330