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Basic Use

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Charles Hans Thompson edited this page Aug 8, 2014 · 8 revisions

To The Trails: Basic Use

This document provides information about basic use of the To The Trails administrative interface. It describes user accounts, the three types of trail data the system uses, how to edit that data in the interface, and managing data about your organization.

For specfic information about uploading data to the system, see the Uploader documentation.

Creating an Account/Logging in

If you don't already have an account in ToTheTrails:

  1. Go to http://tothetrails.com/admin.
  2. Click on the "Sign up" link near the bottom of the page.
  3. If your organization not listed in the "Organization" pop-up menu, you need to contact a ToTheTrails administrator to have your organization added to the system, then return to the login page to create an account.
  4. Provide your email address, organization, and a password.
  5. At this point, your account will need to be approved by a ToTheTrails administrator.

Once your account is approved:

The Three Types of Trail Data

All three of these types of data must be provided for a trail in order for that trail to appear in the application.

Trail data ("Trails" in the left navigation menu)

This includes data about each trail as a whole. This includes items such as, but not limited to:

  • Trail name: Public name for the trail For a trail to appear to users, its name must appear in three different places:
    1. In this trail data
    2. In the trailhead data in a "trail" field.
    3. In the trailsegment data in a "trail" field. It must be spelled exactly the same way in all three places.
  • Status: The current trail status. "Open", "Notice", or "Closed".
  • Status Text: The status text to be displayed to users if "Status" is not "Open".
  • Trail length: The published length of this trail in miles.
  • Source: The organization that is providing this data.
  • Steward: The organization that trail users should contact for more information.
  • Description: A description of the trail to present to users.
  • A photo to represent the trail to users, with a credit.
  • Map URL: A URL to an online map of the trail (live or PDF)
  • Trail Surface
  • Various access and use fields, each of which are yes/no fields.

This data is initially provided to the system in a CSV (comma-separated-value) file, one trail per line, and after the initial upload can be edited in the user interface. The fields and format are specified in the trail data standard.

This data can also be downloaded in CSV format via a link on the trail listing screen. It can then be edited in Excel or another CSV-editing application, exported from that application as a new CSV file, and uploaded. This may work better for certain workflows than editing trail data with the web interface.

Trailhead data ("Trailheads" in the left navigation menu)

This includes data about each trailhead. This includes items such as:

  • Trailhead name: The public name for this trailhead
  • Park Name: The name of the park this trailhead is in or near, if available.
  • Source: The organization that is providing this data
  • Trail1, Trail2, Trail3, Trail4, Trail5, Trail6: Names of trails that connect to this trailhead. For a trail to appear to users, its name must appear in three different places:
    1. In a record in the trail data
    2. In this trailhead data in a "Trail1"-"Trail6" field.
    3. In the trailsegment data in a "Trail1"-"Trail6" field. It must be spelled exactly the same way in all three places.
  • Trailhead amenities: These are "y/n" values meant to show the availability of certain amenities at the trailhead:
    1. Parking
    2. Drinking Water
    3. Restrooms
    4. Kiosk (An informational kiosk)

This data is initially provided to the system in either an ESRI Shapefile, or a GeoJSON file, and can then be modified in the user interface. The fields and format are specified in the trail data standard.

Trail segment data ("Segments" in the left navigation menu)

This data includes the individual segments that make up the various trails in the system. A segment can belong to more than one trail, and a trail can have multiple segments. Includes:

  • Source: The organization that is providing this data.
  • Steward: The organization that trail users should contact for more information about the trail this segment is part of. Not currently used by the public application, but may be at a later date.
  • Trail1, Trail2, Trail3, Trail4, Trail5, Trail6: The names of every trail this segment is a part of. For a trail to appear to users, its name must appear in three different places:
    1. In the trail data.
    2. In the trailhead data in a "trail" field.
    3. In the trailsegment data in one of these "trail" fields. It must be spelled exactly the same way in all three places.

This data is initially provided to the system in either an ESRI Shapefile, or a GeoJSON file, and can then be modified in the user interface. The fields and format are specified in the trail data standard.

All trail segments provided will be displayed in the public application, even if they are not part of a listed trail.

Editing Existing Trail, Trailhead, or Segment Data

NOTE: All data entered or modified for a particular type of object (trail, trailhead, trail segment) using the web interface described here will be completely replaced by a new file upload. The only exception to this rule is that as long as a trail name does not change between uploads, trails will retain their existing photos on a new trail data upload. See the uploader documentation for a method to preserve other data added or modified between uploads.

To see the data for trails, trailheads, or trail segments, click on the tab for the type of data in which you're interested in the left navigation bar. You'll see a listing with the all of the individual items for that data type for your organization. There is also a link to include all organizations' information in the list, although you will not be able to edit data for other organizations.

  • Clicking on the "View" link will display the data for a particular item.

  • Click on the "Edit" link to begin editing the information for a particular item. This link will take you to a page where you can edit most of the fields that make up the item. Once you submit your changes, they take effect immediately in the live application.

  • Clicking on the "Delete" link will remove the given item from the system after a confirmation dialog is presented.

Submitting Trail Photos

PNGs, JPGs, and GIFs are supported. Click on "Choose File..." while editing a trail to submit a photo for that trail. A photo submitted for a trail will replace the current photo for that trail.

Editing Data About Your Organization

To edit your organization data, click on the "Organizations" tab in the left navigation bar. This will present you with a list of all of the source and steward organizations in the system. You are only able to edit your own organization's information. Click on "Edit" on your organization's row to start. You may change your organization's name, its abbreviation in the system, web address, phone number, and logo.

NOTE: If you change your organization's abbreviation, or "code," future data uploads must include that new organization code in the "source" field for all records. Any uploaded records that do not have the same organization code as that of the user uploading them will be rejected.

Submitting Logos

Organizations' logos should be 80 pixels tall and less than 120 pixels wide, or look acceptable when shrunk to that size. PNGs are recommended, but GIFs are acceptable. EPS and TIFF files will not be accepted. XXXX

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