{"id":347071,"date":"2020-06-17T07:32:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T14:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=347071"},"modified":"2022-03-29T15:08:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T22:08:47","slug":"covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: States Apply Location Intelligence to Manage Parks"},"author":5142,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[318502],"tags":[430851,321,448741,457121],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478532],"esri_blog_department":[478222],"class_list":["post-347071","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental","tag-covid-19","tag-parks","tag-reopening","tag-social-distance","esri-blog-category-analytics","esri_blog_department-conservation-and-environment"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"State park systems turn to GIS to limit close proximity of people during the pandemic and to communicate park closures and reopening.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Managers of state parks gain clarity on risks and capacity to maintain public health and safely reopen parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>State park managers use GIS to monitor and manage park use.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The GIS team conducted spatial analytics to determine park risk factors and carrying capacity to maintain public health at each of the state\u2019s 56 parks.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>An up-to-date map communicates park usage limits and closures.<strong>\r\n<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"When coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stay-at-home orders first began to pop up throughout Tennessee communities, the state's parks saw a sudden increase in visitors.\r\n\r\nAlarmed by the huge number of local and out-of-state guests visiting during that first week, park managers grew concerned about potential health risks for visitors and staff. Tennessee governor Bill Lee quickly responded by closing the state's 56 parks. At the time, officials were uncertain of when and how to safely open them again.\r\n\r\nStaff at Tennessee State Parks needed a way to help the governor's office monitor the COVID-19 crisis, make policy, and create guidelines. Moreover, they needed a system that would help state park managers plan reopening strategies. They also wanted to keep the public informed about which parks are open and what restrictions are in place.\r\n\r\nSince location plays a crucial role in COVID-19 safety and prevention, state leaders decided to use a geographic information system (GIS) to monitor and manage the crisis. For years, Tennessee State Parks had been using the technology, and a team of professionals had kept up with location intelligence advancements. They had already built numerous GIS applications for managing park and business operations, so it was not a stretch for the department to create a GIS strategy specifically designed to handle the pandemic.\r\n<h3><strong>Managing Information Essentials<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nRachel Schultz, parks and conservation GIS lead, and a team at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation created a location strategy that would help leaders launch safe initiatives. First on the to-do list was to determine each park's risk factors and levels. Next was to create a dashboard that would give the governor's office actionable information. This information would be updated throughout the day as needed.\r\n\r\n\"Previous park closures were due to budgetary and economic concerns,\" Schultz\u00a0said. \"These current and partial closures are caused entirely by public health concerns. It's a new arena for us, as I believe it is for many organizations.\""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":347131,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Simultaneously, the GIS team expanded park staff's technology capacity, developing apps and analysis to provide decision-makers with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/location-intelligence\">location intelligence<\/a> they needed. The team used a variety of data to support these tools, including existing information on parks, COVID-19 tracking data from the state health department, and modeling output data from the Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation (IHME). But the most valuable data came from the parks themselves, especially real-time information captured by park managers and rangers using ArcGIS mobile apps for data collection.\r\n<h3><strong>Analyzing Risk to Reopen Parks<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nRisk analysis plays a large role in understanding and managing response for state parks. To determine COVID-19 risk levels for each park, the GIS team created a web survey app to collect information from park managers. It asked them to rate their concern levels about continuing regular operations during the outbreak as low, moderate, or high. The survey also asked what specific situations were driving those concerns.\r\n\r\nThe team created an operations dashboard that showed the spatial distribution of parks with high concerns. It also used geographically weighted regression tools to find patterns that explained why some parks were more or less concerned with risk than others. Findings showed the highest concerns came from parks with rugged or steep terrains in which park rangers would be exposed to COVID-19 during rescues. Also, parks that had sufficient stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies were more likely to give a low or moderate concern rating.\r\n<h3><strong>Deciding When to Reopen Parks<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nStaff used a GIS park sustainability dashboard to brief Governor Lee on the status of Tennessee State Parks. This allowed him to work on epidemic response including the difficult decision to temporarily close state parks."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":347141,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/tnstateparks.com\/about\/covid-19-closures"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"During the closure, the team completed two more GIS projects. The first one tracked PPE and cleaning supply inventory at parks across the state. It helped management determine how best to distribute equipment and supplies among state parks. A dashboard measured status of the goal of getting each park fully stocked with everything they needed to feel secure upon reopening.\r\n\r\nWithin the parks, staff posted signage about closed trails, social distancing rules, and face mask requirements.\r\n<h3><strong>Informing the Public<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nTennessee State Parks wanted to supply people with information that would be easier to read than a simple list. The GIS team lead worked closely with the park's marketing team to embed an ArcGIS web app at <a href=\"https:\/\/tnstateparks.com\/about\/covid-19-closures\">TNStateParks.com<\/a>. They built a publicly accessible, interactive map that interfaced with the GIS database.\r\n\r\nWhenever a park's status changes, the map automatically updates and shows the most current information. If a park experiences an unsustainably high amount of visitation over a weekend, the park can close or restrict admission and immediately show it on the public map.\r\n\r\nA tenet of social distancing is to stay close to home. Although Tennessee encourages people to come out and enjoy state parks, it asks visitors to limit travel as much as possible. Fortunately, all Tennesseans can find a state park within a one-hour drive. The status map will quickly and clearly show the nearest park and its current status and restrictions.\r\n\r\n\"We have never experienced anything like this,\" Schultz said. \"GIS helps us to respond to these new and ever-evolving situations quickly and efficiently.\"\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLearn more about the applications of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/environment-natural-resources\/overview\">GIS for environmental and natural resources agencies<\/a>."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"<h2><strong>Park Finder App Shows Park Status<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThe Governor of Massachusetts announced that state parks and other natural resources managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), such as trails, beaches, reservations, and forests, would remain open and accessible to the public.\r\n\r\nIn its efforts to keep visitors safe, DCR closed offices and visitor centers and removed paper trail maps because they presented touch points for spreading the disease. In their place, the agency posted QR codes that linked to PDF trail maps on its website.\u00a0 But visitors needed more information about the latest park restrictions.\r\n\r\nThe DCR GIS team quickly created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/find-a-park\">park finder online app<\/a> that shows the latest updates about park status. Users see where parks have social distancing regulations such as open and closed roads, one-directional trail loops, and parking lot restrictions. They can print out the map or download the app to their mobile phones.\r\n\r\nTo build the app, the team used online GIS software. To create the app\u2019s map, they repurposed an existing data layer of parks and added recreation symbology, such as swimming and hiking. They also added COVID-19 related symbols.\r\n\r\nBecause the map is digital, the team easily updates it to reflect the current status of parks, which change weekly.\r\n\r\nPrior to the epidemic, DCR had worked on the park finder app but was waiting for the opportunity to launch it. Suddenly, the project became a priority. After the pandemic is over, the park finder app will continue to help boaters, hikers, and people who simply want to sit and stare at the scenery find a park that meets their needs.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>States Reopen Parks Using GIS to Manage Public Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tennessee and Massachusetts applied location intelligence to manage and reopen parks, including measuring risks and defining strategies during the pandemic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19: States Apply Location Intelligence to Manage Parks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tennessee and Massachusetts applied location intelligence to manage and reopen parks, including measuring risks and defining strategies during the pandemic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Esri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-29T22:08:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Reelfoot_Lake_State_Park_826.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Esri\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly\",\n\t            \"name\": \"States Reopen Parks Using GIS to Manage Public Health\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2020-06-17T14:32:51+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2022-03-29T22:08:47+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Tennessee and Massachusetts applied location intelligence to manage and reopen parks, including measuring risks and defining strategies during the pandemic.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"COVID-19: States Apply Location Intelligence to Manage Parks\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Esri\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Esri Newsroom\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/01e5dfaa69499c4a434ec9af84a02d8c\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Mike Bialousz\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Mike_Bialousz.jpg\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Mike_Bialousz.jpg\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Mike Bialousz\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"description\": \"Mike Bialousz is a senior consultant and practice lead for state and local government environment and natural resources customers at Esri. Mike has more than 27 years of experience working in GIS and mapping, including management positions in the private sector and Pennsylvania state government.\u00a0All of Mike\u2019s experience has involved implementing GIS for natural resources challenges and he has also taught GIS at several Pennsylvania colleges and universities for the past 13 years.\u00a0\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/author\/mike_bialousz\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"States Reopen Parks Using GIS to Manage Public Health","description":"Tennessee and Massachusetts applied location intelligence to manage and reopen parks, including measuring risks and defining strategies during the pandemic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"COVID-19: States Apply Location Intelligence to Manage Parks","og_description":"Tennessee and Massachusetts applied location intelligence to manage and reopen parks, including measuring risks and defining strategies during the pandemic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly","og_site_name":"Esri","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/esrigis\/","article_modified_time":"2022-03-29T22:08:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Reelfoot_Lake_State_Park_826.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Esri","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly","name":"States Reopen Parks Using GIS to Manage Public Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-06-17T14:32:51+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-29T22:08:47+00:00","description":"Tennessee and Massachusetts applied location intelligence to manage and reopen parks, including measuring risks and defining strategies during the pandemic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/covid19-states-reopen-parks-slowly#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"COVID-19: States Apply Location Intelligence to Manage Parks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/","name":"Esri","description":"Esri Newsroom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/01e5dfaa69499c4a434ec9af84a02d8c","name":"Mike Bialousz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Mike_Bialousz.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Mike_Bialousz.jpg","caption":"Mike Bialousz"},"description":"Mike Bialousz is a senior consultant and practice lead for state and local government environment and natural resources customers at Esri. Mike has more than 27 years of experience working in GIS and mapping, including management positions in the private sector and Pennsylvania state government.\u00a0All of Mike\u2019s experience has involved implementing GIS for natural resources challenges and he has also taught GIS at several Pennsylvania colleges and universities for the past 13 years.\u00a0","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/author\/mike_bialousz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/347071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/347071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347071"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=347071"},{"taxonomy":"esri-blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/esri-blog-category?post=347071"},{"taxonomy":"esri_blog_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/esri_blog_department?post=347071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}