[Talk-us] National Park boundaries

[Kevin Kenny]

On 07/23/2012 12:50 PM, Steven Johnson wrote:
> Martijn & all,
>
> I rather like the samples you gave:
> boundary=national_historic_site
> boundary=national_historic_park
> etc.
> They are simple, straightforward, and unambiguous. (The pattern could
> also be extended to other boundary types.)

In the Forest Preserve of New York State (which comprises what's
popularly known as the Adirondack Park and the Catskill Park), we
have an existing precedent for coding the parcels landuse=forest.
Since (as I mentioned earlier) I've been contemplating reimporting
the cadastral data for those, I'm going to follow this discussion with
interest.

If you're working on a set of values for types of government land, 
here's New York's zoo of land classifications:

Within the Forest Preserve (and other Department of Environmental
Conservation lands):

  ADMINISTRATIVE
  CANOE AREA
  HISTORIC
  INTENSIVE USE
  PRIMITIVE
  PRIMITIVE BICYCLE CORRIDOR
  PRIMITIVE CORRIDOR
  UNCLASSIFIED
  WILDERNESS
  WILD FOREST

'Wilderness' is the most stringent of these, with foot travel only, and
the desire to keep the area as close to the appearance of being entirely
untrammeled by humanity. (I've just returned from a trip to such an
area; one of the toughest hikes I've ever done.) 'Wild Forest' is next;
it has historically been logged or otherwise developed, but is being
managed with the intent of allowing it to revert to a natural state.
Some Wild Forest trails allow snowmobiling, ATV, or Motorized Access
for Persons With Disabilities.  Primitive is next up; it may have
areas where car camping is permitted, but is unlikely to have any
facilities beyond lean-to's, piped springs, or pit latrines. A few
primitive areas exist as corridors through wilder areas to allow
longer-distance mountain bike, equestrian, or snowmobile travel.
Finally, Historic or Intensive Use areas are likely to be developed
for tourism, and include campgrounds, ski areas, historic sites,
and the like.  Administrative lands house DEC offices and maintenance
facilities, and Unclassified lands include mostly Unique Areas,
which have _sui generis_ rules.

I think that most of these can be recoded as combinations like
"landuse=forest foot=yes bicycle=no horse=yes ski=yes atv=no
nysdec:mappwd=no", but I'd want to include the original designation
so that the tag clusters can be changed _en masse_ if, say, the
rules for what's allowed in a Wild Forest change.

And yes, these things get encoded - believe it or not - in the
facility name. New York State does have a 'Diamond Notch State
Primitive Bicycle Corridor' that more or less bisects the
'Hunter Mountain-West Kill State Wilderness'. Both of which are
comprised in the Catskill Park (which comprises a tremendous amount
of tightly-regulated private land, as well as the State-owned
parcels).

Outside DEC-administered lands:

These are the ones in the shapefiles that NYSGIS offers:

    County Park
    County Forest
    County Fish Hatchery
    County Boat Launch
    County Recreation Area
    Federal Reservation
    Federal Military
    National Cemetery
    Federal Corrections Facility
    VA Medical Center
    Federal Non-Recreational Land (otherwise unclassified)
    National Historic Site
    National Scenic Trail
    National Forest
    National Wildlife Refuge
    National Recreation Area
    Municipal Recreation Area
    State Office
    SUNY Research Center
    State Corrections Facility
    State Psychiatric Center
    State Military [used for National Guard facilities]
    State Non-Recreational Land (otherwise unclassified)
    State Park
    State Marine Park
    State Boat Launch
    State Special Use Area
    State Canal Park
    State Historic Site
    State Education Center
    State Fish Hatchery
    State Tree Nursery
    State Unique Area
    State Natural Resource Management Area
    State Wildlife Management Area
    State Multiple Use Area
    State Wetland
    State Tidal Wetland
    State Recreation Area (otherwise unclassified)
    State Forest
    State Reforestation Area

I'm preparing a Freedom of Information Act request to get electronic
cadastre for
    New York City recreational watershed (public access)
    New York City recreational watershed (access by permit)

There are a few large parcels formally owned by the Nature Conservancy
over which the state has a permanent easement to offer public
recreational access.

And, to top it all off, there are the Blue Lines, which enclose the
Adirondack and Catskill Parks. These two Parks comprise both State
land and highly-regulated private land.

What to do with all of this?  It's useful, but your guess is as
good as mine how to code it.