Expect a new set of trail maps for the nine Allegheny County Parks to be ready next year, thanks in large part to the efforts of volunteers with Global Positioning System units.
"It would have been a very expensive task it we'd paid someone to do it," said parks director Andy Baechle.
Five of the nine maps (Boyce Park, Deer Lakes Park, Harrison Hills Park, Hartwood Acres and Settler's Cabin Park) are available on the parks' department's Web site, and in the coming weeks Baechle hopes to have North Park, Round Hill Park, South Park and White Oak Park added.
Right now they're drafts, Baechle said, and the next step is to have volunteers from groups such as Pittsburgh Trail Alliance Group go back out with their GPS units and check for accuracy.
"They can come back in and say, 'Hey, you got this wrong,' then next year we'll start printing them," Baechle said. "But even now we know most of our data's within 30 feet of exactly where it is. The maps are certainly much better than anything we've ever had."
