Dear Recreation Provider
The Louisiana Office of State Parks’ Division of Outdoor Recreation is requesting your assistance in preparing an update to the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). We are again building a geo-database using GIS technology to map and analyze the availability and distribution of outdoor recreation facilities across Louisiana. The purpose is to identify needs locally so that federal assistance can be prioritized to address gaps in provision of outdoor recreation services. Your agency is among the contributors to the 2014 edition of the SCORP, and I am reaching out to request updated information from your parks and recreation department.
Parks Data Needed
I am seeking GIS-ready data for your jurisdiction’s parks and outdoor recreation amenities. You may have this in one of the following formats:
- ArcGIS / ESRI “shapefile”set (a set of files with endings .shp, .dbf, among others.)
- GIS “geo database” with files in a folder having a name ending in .gdb
- Spreadsheet or list of parks including columns Latitude and Longitude
The above may be point locations of parks, trail-heads, boat ramps, or similar sites; or they may include polygons of park property boundaries. If your community’s parks are not digitally mapped in this way, I would still like to receive your most up to date list of parks and outdoor recreation areas including name, street address and a list of amenities at each park as available. Perhaps your current list is already displayed on your agency’s website. If so, please let me know. It is particularly important for me to learn of additions and improvements your jurisdiction has made since 2014. I very much appreciate you taking the time to read and respond to this request. The current stay-at-home order has made accomplishing technical tasks challenging for some, and I know that recreation departments across the state remain very busy in maintaining and cleaning their facilities, safeguarding improvements from public use to prevent virus transmission, strategizing ways to provide community services in ways that comply with social distancing mandates, and aiding other branches of local government. Thank you.
If you have GIS-ready data of your parks, or if you have questions or comments about this request, please reach out to me at the email or phone number listed below.
A Secondary Request
We would also like to promote the SCORP’s “PlayOutdoorsLA” social media accounts and to invite you to share photos of your outdoor recreation facilities and users. We would very much like to feature photos of your wonderful facilities in the SCORP report and on the website. Use your agency accounts to follow us at:
- Facebook.com/playoutdoorsla #playoutdoorsla
- Twitter.com/playoutdoorsla @playoutdoorsla
- Instagram.com/playoutdoorsla #playoutdoorsla
Please stay safe and I look forward to hearing from you.
James Taylor, AICP │ Planner │ [email protected] | (225) 250-6070 cell
Franklin Associates, LLC │ Strategic Consultants